POLIT 
THUGGERY 



Or MiSSOURFS BATTLE 
WITH THE BOODL ERS 



FRANK G. TYRRELL 




Class C'j^A 

Book _ "7^ 



Coffyiight]^", 



^f 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



Political Thuggery; 

OR, 

BRIBERY A NATIONAL ISSUE. 



Missouri's Battle With The Boodlers, 

INCIvUDING 

THE GREKT FIGHT 

HON. JOSEPH W. FOLK, 

Circuit Attorney of St. Louis, 

AND 

THE UPRISING OF THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE. 



'The Voice of The People Is The Supreme Law." 



ILLUSTRATED BY PHOTOGRAPHS AND DRAWINGS OF 
PERSONS, SCENES AND INCIDENTS. 



BY 

FRANK G. TYRRELL. 






LiER^RY nf CONSRESS 
Two Copies Received 

JUN 18 1904 

^ Cooyrlffht Entry 
OLASS a^ XXc. No. 

'copy b i 



Copyright, 1904. by F. G. Tyrrell. 



'What constitutes a state ? 

Not high-raised battlement or labored mound, 
Thick wall or moated gate ; 

• Not cities proud with ^ires and turrets crowned ; 

Not bays and broad-armed ports, 
Where, laughing at the storm, rich navies ride ; 

Not starred and spangled courts, 
Where low-browed baseness wafts perfume to pride. 

No : — men, high-minded men. 
With powers as far above dull brutes endued 

In forest, brake or den. 
As beasts excel cold rocks and brambles rude, — 

Men who their duties know. 
But know their rights, and knowing, dare maintain; 

Prevent the long-aimed blow, 
And crush the tyrant while they rend the chain, — 

These constitute a state." 



FOREWORD. 



Fifty-three foreign governments, onr Federal government, 
and all the States of the American Union are participating in the 
Louisiana Purchase Exposition, v^hich represents a total expendi- 
ture of $50,000,000, and covers more space than the Chicago, 
Paris, and Centennial expositions combined. Other expositions 
have been international ; it remained for this to be universal ; it is 
a microcosm, — a world in miniature. Art, Education and In- 
dustry have been exploited ; Agriculture, Horticulture, Manufac- 
tures and Transportation have been drawn upon for the most 
elaborate, beautiful and inspiring presentation of the triumphs 
of human genius ever offered. 

At the same time, while this mammoth Exposition was in 
preparation, another stupendous and daring enterprise was being 
successfully pushed in the city of St. Louis, the metropolis of the 
Louisiana Territory and the State of Missouri; an enterprise 
which is impossible, save among a free people, with a free and 
untrammelled press ; nothing less than the rescue of a common- 
wealth from political pirates and commercial free-booters. This 
magnificent spectacle of a free and soa^ereign people rising in their 
might and purging their government from the last taint of corrup- 
tion, is, after all, the grandest exhibit to be seen in connection 
with the great World's Fair. 

It is not a local matter. Led by the fearless and intrepid 
Prosecuting Attorney of St. Louis, Hon. Joseph Wingate Folk, 
the people have exposed and pilloried the knaves of the common- 
wealth ; they have uncovered a seething mass of corruption which 
honey-combs the nation, and finds its head in the national civil 
service, departments of which have at times seemed to be nothing 
more nor less than organized graft. It is this daring expose we 
here present as the exhibit surpassing all others in pictur- 
esqueness of detail and enduring interest. Whatever the form 
of government, all nations are assailed and beleagured by the 



8 FOREWORD. 

same forces of corruption ; all nations have the same or very sim- 
ilar problems of population, legislation, and administration. 
Brought close together by wonderfully improved means of trans- 
portation and communication, all nations suffer and rejoice to- 
gether. Monopoly and exploitation, the concentration and an- 
archy of wealth, are not peculiar to America ; they are the every- 
where prevalent conditions of twentieth century civilization. 

The uprising of an outraged people against political thugs 
and their masters has attracted the attention of the civiHzed 
world, even as the lamentable venality and weakness of American 
municipalities have long been themes of animadversion by Euro- 
pean writers. The situation at the beginning of this battle with 
boodlers is faithfully described by Mr. Folk in one of his speeches 
before the people of the State of Missouri : ''There were com- 
bines formed in both branches of the Municipal Assembly for 
the purpose of getting money for the votes of members of the 
combine on measures before the Assembly. Laws were sold un- 
blushingly to the highest bidder for money to go into the pockets 
of these public pilferers. Schedules of bribe prices were estab- 
lished, ranging from a few hundred dollars for a switch bill to 
thousands of dollars for a franchise. They tried to sell or give 
away the water-works, the court house, and the union market for 
their own enrichment. Nothing was safe from their avarice, not 
even the sewer pipes in the ground. Now, these men were not a 
bp.Tid of robbers who captured the city by force, but they were 
elected by the people to be the makers of laws for them. Most 
"f them were Republicans, and the majority of those who gave 
them the bribes were Democrats, but that is of no consequence 
now — they were all public plunderers. On one occasion a new 
member of the combine was in the meeting when they passed 
around $2,500 each bribe money. The new member asked if 
they were not afraid they would get into trouble. They all 
laughed heartily, and reminded him of their political power; how 
each of the nineteen controlled his own ward, and told him he 
was perfectly safe, as it had been going on for years, and they 
and those who put up the bribes were strong enough politically 
to annihilate anyone who would insinuate wrongdoing against 
them. Now, nineteen of these bribe-givers and bribe-takers have 
"faced juries, and have received from two to seven years in the 



FOREWORD. - 9 

penitentiary; others have turned State's evidence. Bribery could 
hardly have been more extensive in St. Louis than it was under 
Republican rule. The Democratic party has exposed it. In the 
State, faithless Democratic officials took bribes and distributed 
bribe money amongst senators. Laws have been sold for years, 
if the confessions of senators be correct. Legislators have had 
thousand dollar bills more in mind than they have had the public 
interests. Corruption even stalked up to a former governor of 
the State and attempted to have him make a State appointment 
for money. Whiles of course, the majority of senators and rep- 
resentatives have been honest, yet it is clear that legislative pro- 
ceedings have been honeycombed with bribery. It seemed to be 
nothing unusual for a legislator to prostitute his official powers 
for gain. The developments are but the indication of a diseased 
condition of the legislative service. Instead of public office being 
a public trust, to many it was a private snap. They have outraged 
every sense of honor and decency, and have insolently flaunted 
their corruption in the faces of the people." 

Perhaps never before in the history of the State was there 
a Gubernatorial campaign which awakened such interest. Cer- 
tainly it is true that never before were the law-abiding people so 
aroused, indignant, and united, against the forces of corruption. 
It may be said, indeed, that there was a new alignment of parties ; 
on one side, all the citizens of whatever political faith, who stand 
for the parity and integrity of democratic institutions ; on the 
other, the corruptionists, the place-hunters and the privilege- 
hunters. And the leadership of the party of honest government, 
a^ well as most of the rank and file of that party, is democratic. 
But in the words of Mr. Folk, "No party has a monopoly on the 
virtuous ; neither are the vicious confined to one party. The weed- 
ing out of public corruption should be the mission of the Demo- 
cratic party. ^^ ^^ ^ j^ rascal is no less so by calling himself 
a Democrat. I believe in exposing and punishing Democratic 
rascals as well as Republican rascals ; Democrats just a little bit 
more than Republicans, because they should know better. Offi- 
cials are not elected to prosecute only political opponents, but to 
enforce the law impartially against all offenders.'' 

In the pages following, the reader will find that the salient 
features in this inspiring history of the achievements of present 



10 ■ FOREWORD. 

day patriotism are seized upon and disentangled from the be- 
wildering details. Then the deep, underlying principles are pre- 
sented, together with the scope and significance of the people's 
fight against political thuggery and piracy. Chapters treating of 
conditions everywhere prevalent follow, and there are then indi- 
cated some of the highways out of the quagmire. 

"Our greatest domestic foes/' declares Circuit Attorney Folk, 
"are those who would destroy by corrupt and criminal methods 
the intent and spirit of our institutions, deprive the people of their 
honest expression of opinion at the ballot box, thwart their efforts 
for just and necessary legislation, impede and vitiate the admin- 
istration of the law, and poison the fountains of justice. The 
principal weapon of these domestic foes is bribery, which is even 
now beginning to be a serious menace to the nation itself. 

"It is not confined to Missouri. Throughout the length and 
breadth of the land it exists. In the prosperity of the people and 
their devotion to business interests they have forgotten that 
'eternal vigilance is the price of liberty." But they are ready to 
fight these domestic foes, not with bullets, but with ballots and 
the law. There is as much patriotism in the ballot as in the bullet. 
The people are aroused to the condition of things. They foresee 
the dangers ahead, unless bribery and corruption be stamped out. 
They realize that it is not a question of this or that man's candi- 
dacy, but one of principle, the triumph of which is above all per- 
sonal Considerations. Not only in ^Missouri is the patriotic spirit 
moving against the powers of evil such as we are fighting here, 
"^.om Missouri the sentiment has spread throughout the land, 
vjcher and important political issues require consideration and 
solution, but above all issues there stands pre-eminent the issue 
of obtaining purity and honesty in the making and administering 
of law in every department of the government, municipal, state 
and national. 

"]\Iy friends, it is no exaggeration to say that the eyes of the 
world are on Alissouri, to see what the people here are going to 
do on this momentous question. If this great State, with its glo- 
rious history, with its memories of illustrious statesmen, who had 
added lustre to the pages of our country's history, should shrink 
from the task, then it might well be believed that the decadence 
of the public conscience has begun. But the people of Missouri 



FOREWORD. 11 

are not going to retreat ; they are going to charge the stronghold 
of the corruptionists again and again until it is shattered by the 
shafts of the law and riddled by the mighty power of public 
opinion. Let Missouri be distinguished as no other state is dis- 
tinguished for good government. Let Missouri lead the other 
states and set an example for them to follow. When insolent cor- 
ruption sneeringly asks: 'What are you going to do about it?' 
let our answer be given by hundreds of thousands of patriotic 
Missouri Democrats, who hate corruption and despise wrong. 
Then Missouri, the fifth state in population, will be the first in 
civic righteousness and American manhood. True Democracy 
means the rule of the people. It is time for the people of Mis- 
souri to do their own thinking, and take the government into 
their own hands, where it belongs. With the Missouri Democracy 
true to its traditions on the side of civic honor the hosts of error 
will vanish like evil spirits at the dawn of day." 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



PACK. 

CHAPTER I. 
Knavery Unmasked . 
The First Clue— Hiding the Shells— Detection and Arrest- 
Fear and Flight— The Corpus Delicti — A Gradual 
Awakening — Another Deal — A Summing Up 17 

CHAPTER II. 
A Man's Man. 
A Strong Personality — Nomination and Election — Well-Born 
— In the Lion's Den — Perils of Publicity — Success and 
Trouble — Fallen Among Thieves 31 

CHAPTER III. 
The Pubi^ic Pui.se. 
Sovereign Power — The City Papers — Interesting Episodes — 
Saved by Hope — Public Indignation — Dealing With 
Anarchy — Zigzagging 43 

CHAPTER IV. 
Results. 
The Searching Test — What Is Success — Tremendous Odds 
— A Fearful Power — Another Element — Who Are Most 
Active — Inexcusable Indifferefice — Bribery Made Extra- 
ditable — Nineteen Convictions 55 

CHAPTER V. 

The Mailed Fist. 
National Not Local — The Plugged Primary — Invasion of 
Thugs — A Slum Overflow — Triumphant Anarchy — In 
Kansas City — Political Hessians — Outrageous and Ap- 
palling — Criminal Connivance — Who Paid the Bills. . 67 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 13 

CHAPTER VI. PAGE. 

Anarchy Under Forms op I^aw. 
Thuggery — Three to One — Monstrous Materialism — Plutoc- 
racy — The Taint Spreads — Pernicious Example — Naked 
and Not Ashamed — Is There any Relief — Social Regen- 
eration — A Sop to Cerberus — The Boodler's Power — 
Decay of Republican Institutions 85 

CHAPTER VII. 

Citizens' Indignation Meeting. 

The Chairman's Speech — From the Rector of St. George's — 

Bring Your Own Repeaters — The Home Against the 

Brothel — Personnel of the Meeting — Resolutions 

Adopted — Dunklin County Resolutions 101 

CHAPTER VIII. 
The Ministers' Appeai.. 
Political Buyers Wealthy — Time to Oust Brigands — Con- 
trolled by One Man — Punish the Leaders — Give Way 
to Imported Brawlers — Destruction of Suffrage. . 117 

CHAPER IX. 

The Voice of the Press. 
A Grave Issue — St. lyouis or Thugville, Which — Folk's 
Sweeping Vindication — An Easy Road for Big Cheats- — 
Let Citizenship Take the Initiative — The Chatsworth 
Hall Protest — Public Action for Clean Primaries — Is It 
to be a Sham Battle — Seventeen New Indictments in 
''Indian" Cases — The Opinion of Horace Flack — An 
Eastern View of Folk's Fight — Folk and the Machine. . 131 

CHAPTER X. 

PuEPiT Echoes. 
Condemn Riots From the Pulpits — Where Is Responsibility 
— Law and Order — Contempt of Law Menaces Society 
— The Terror of Law — Lawlessness — The State Preach- 
ers Aroused 151 



14 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XI. - PAGs. 
The City Whirlpool. 
A Nation of Cities — Some of the Causes — Mechanical versus 
Muscular Power — The Rail Highways — "Stumps Ain't 
Folks"— The Stars in Their Courses 167 

CHAPTER XII. 

Cities of Destruction. 

Provincialism and Snobberj^ — Why Study Cities — Perils and 

Problems — The Old Quarrel — Municipal Misgovern- 

ment — Destruction of the Home — Altars Deserted — 

Hearts Hardened— The City Jungle 179 

CHAPTER XIII. 

The Boss. 

Machinery Necessary — The Boss a Creature — Resources and 

Power — Politics a Trade — Immense Revenues — Mad 

With Greed — Continuous Carnival — A Narrow Sphere — 

Discrowned and Dethroned — The Real Henchmen.... 191 

CHAPTER XIV. 

Decay of Democracy. 
Not an Alarmist — The Paper Government — Police and In- 
dian Outrages — Legislation Usurped — Enormous Slush 
Fund — Train Robbers Respectable — Laws Not En- 
forced — Tampering With Courts — Rebates and Conces- 
sions — Indisputable 203 

CHAPTER XV. 
Out of the Noose. 
Logic of the Situation — A Conscience Campaign — Machine 
Methods — Pulpit and Press — An Aroused People — 
"Bribery Is Treason" — A System of Corruption — In- 
dustrial Anarchy— Special Privilege 217 



Chapter I„ 
KNAVERY UNMASKED. 



i 



You are not right to stand still in any great party, moving 
in any direction, doing wrong, zuithout deliberately taking ac- 
count zvith yourself. Am I striving to correct the evil by all the 
influence I can wield? On finding' that it is impossible, do I 
free myself from all imputation of partnership in any such guilt, 
one zvay or the other? More closely still; no man has a right in 
any of the associations of life, in any of the partnerships of life, 
to throzv the blame of zvrong-doing upon the zvhole, taking none 
of it to himself. If a bank be organized to perpetrate szuindles 
on the poor and needy, every man in it zvho neglected his duty, 
or zvho winked at zvrong, and blinded lies consciously, and by 
some indirection made profits but did not care about causing any 
disturbance — every such man in it, I say, takes his dividend of the 
responsibility. It zuas his duty to have seen these things and 
knozv them. There is no division of the responsibility. A man 
zvho zvith open eyes and clear understanding permits wrong io 
be done zvithout protest and resistance up to the measure of his 
pozver, has responsibility for the sum total of all that zvrong. 
Nobody has a right to be peaceable zvhen there is sin around, 
and zvhen it is surrounding him. If there is this zvrong-doing, he 
cannot say to himself, ''There are four partners and I shall have 
only a fourth part of this responsibility." You have the zvhole of 
it! God does not make dividends in those things. — Beecher. 



CHAPTER I. 



KNAVERY UNMASKED. 



THE FIRST CLUE HIDING THE SHELLS DETECTION AND ARREST- 
FEAR AND FLIGHT THE CORPUS DELICTI A GRADUAL AWAK- 
ENING ANOTHER DEAL A SUMMING UP. 



Years ago De Tocqueville, Wendell Phillips, Thomas Jeffer- 
son, Abraham Lincoln and other far-seeing philosophers and 
statesmen, prophesied that the growth and misgovernment of great 
cities would endanger the American Republic as neither slavery 
nor any other institution would. These prophesies have become 
history, and we are now in that era when the large cities, growing 
steadily larger, menace free institutions. The threat has been 
discussed by the daily press, by the magazines, and by not a few 
authors, who have given us books which are thrilling in their 
array of facts and the convincing logic of their arguments. Just 
at the present time (IMarch, 1904) St. Louis, St. Joseph and 
Kansas City, together with the entire State of Missouri, are in 
the midst of a gubernatorial campaign in which there is but one 
issue, namely: Shall the people or the boss. rule? 

The personalities of even the greatest leaders in this bat- 
tle are over-topped by the great issue of the machine, corrupt 
and criminal, against the sovereign people; the brothel against' 
the home ! ' Perhaps never before in the history -of Alissouri 
has there been a campaign waged with such intense earnest- 
ness, or with an issue of such great moment. In these days of 
class commercialism and political corruption, the battle in 
Missouri may be taken as a typical case. The exposures that 
have been made in the city of St. Louis, and in the State, are 
not extraordinary nor exceptional. Political thuggery and 
brigandage are not confined by city or State lines. Thc}^ are 
found in every city, and more or less in every State of the 
2 



18 POLITICAL THUGGERY. 

Federal Union. No analysis of the situation is scientific or 
sai"i=factory which does not take note of this fact. 

Neither is it correct to say that this awful corruption is 
exclusively political. Politics is corrupt because business is 
corrupt, and the scarlet thread runs to and fro from business 
to politics and from politics back to business ; from high to 
low ; from men respectable, influential and, at least nominally 
Christian, to men low, base, unscrupulous and criminal. 
Neither is it a simple story of infamous corruption permeating 
and undermining society ; it is a story of the dominancy of 
these corrupt forces in our government. 

The present excited and indignant state of the best people 
in ^Missouri is the result of long-continued corruption and de- 
fiant wickedness and aggressive lawlessness on the part of 
these baser elements of our commonwealth. The beginning 
of the present determined campaign against corruption dates 
back to the exposures of bribery in the city of St. Louis and 
in Jefterson City, the capital of the commonwealth. It has 
been known by thoughtful people for years that franchises in 
the city of St. Louis were secured by bribery ; that spoilsmen 
were growing rich out of gross wrongs ; and there have been 
periodical attempts at exposure and overthrow. Nothing sat- 
isfactory and permanent has been accomplished, however, un- 
til the battle with the boodlers was fairly begun by the Circuit 
x\ttorney of St. Louis, now a candidate for Governor. 

THE FIRST CLUE. 

( 

In this book it is necessary to give only a brief summary 
of the facts, as the newspapers of the State, and magazines 
of national circulation, have already given them wide pub- 
licity. The St. Louis & Suburban Railway Company desired 
to extend its franchise to occupy certain streets in the West 
End of St. Louis. The details by which this should be secured 
were left entirely to the President, Mr. Charles H. Turner. 
Being familiar with the tactics necessarily employed in city 
legislation, he went to Air. Edward Butler, the city boss, to 
ascertain what it would cost him to have the bill, prepared 
by the attorney of the Suburban Street Railway Company, 
enacted into law. [Mr. Butler told him his ''fee'" would be 



MISSOURI'S BATTLE WITH THE BOODLERS. 10 

$145,000. This Mr. Turner considered too much, and turned 
to Mr. Philip Stock, agent of the Brewers' Supply Company. 
The agreement with Mr. Stock was for $135,000. The money 
was secured by Mr. Turner on notes signed by him and en- 
dorsed by Ellis Wainwright and Henry Nicolaus. These 
notes were discounted at a South St. Louis bank, whose 
cashier was instructed to pay the money to Mr. Stock upon 
demand. 

John K. Murrell was the active agent for the House of 
Delegates combine, and he and Mr. Stock deposited $75,000 in 
escrow with the Lincoln Trust Company, signing an agree- 
ment that the box should not be opened unless both parties 
were present. Mr. Stock then took $60,000 and made a similar 
arrangement and agreement with the Mississippi Valley Trust 
Company, with Charles Kratz, who had been delegated as the 
representative of the combine members of the Council. The 
legislation was secured and the bill was passed in regular 
form and signed by the Mayor. But, some citizens who were 
watchtng the proceedings of the city legislature, and who 
were opposed to the franchise, had an injunction issued against 
the St. Louis & Suburban Railway Company, which was made 
permanent by the courts, and the legislation for which they 
were about to pay $135,000 was declared unconstitutional. 
Here is where the thieves fell out. 

The combine members of the Council and the House of 
Delegates, having delivered the goods according to contract, 
insisted upon payment. But the President of the St. Louis 
& Suburban Railway Compan}^ with his agent, declared he 
would not pay over the money, as the Company had not 
been in any way benefited by the legislation; and it was this 
fortunate quarrel between these two groups of corrupt busi- 
ness men, and still more corrupt politicians, that finally led to 
discovery and exposure. An article appeared in the St. Louis 
Star, giving a slight hint of the real situation. It was a mere 
rumor, but when Circuit Attorney Folk read it he determined 
to investigate, and immediately began the battle with the 
boodlers before the Grand Jury, which has been one con- 
tinuous engagement ever since. 



20 POLITICAL THUGGERY. 

Then followed, in the usual course of legal procedure, the 
summoning of witnesses, who boldly and unblushingly per- 
jured themselves before the Grand Jury, until finally Mr. 
Charles H. Turner and Mr.- Philip Stock decided to make a 
clean breast of the miserable transaction, and became State 
witnesses. 

HIDING THE SHELLS. 

Probably there was not a time, from his induction into 
office, when Mr. Folk was not approached by politicians, as 
well as by respectable citizens, who sought to influence him 
against an aggressive attitude in all these matters. At this 
juncture especially, he was advised against pushing the prose- 
cutions. Good men trembled when they thought of the in- 
evitable exposure and the attendant humiliation to St. Louis. 
Just on the eve of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, they 
declared that St. Louis could not afford to be disgraced and 
discredited throughout the nation. And there were many who 
were in a position to give the young Circuit Attorney ^very 
assurance of a bright political future, if he would only keep 
his hands off illustrious criminals and their "Pals." To one 
and all Mr. Folk said simply and manfully that he was the 
Circuit Attorney of St. Louis ; a public official and not a 
partisan in office. 

DETECTION AND ARREST. 

Ellis Wainwright and Henry Nicolaus, millionaire brew- 
.ers, who had signed the notes with Mr. Turner, were indicted 
in due time. This was sufficient notice to those who "occupy 
the seats of the mighty" that the war was on in earnest ; that 
it would be "war to the knife, and the knife to the hilt;" and 
that no one, high or low, rich or poor, respectable or infa- 
mous, would be spared. There followed a reign of fear and 
terror, until, in sheer desperation, the forces of corruption 
^allied ; having taken counsel of lawyers with reference to the 
!fraTute of limitation, and advised as to how they could best 
protect themselves ; and having learned that no treaty with 
foreign nations contained a clause making bribery an extra- 
ditable offense, they began to breathe easier. They realized 
that they stood condemned by good people without regard to 



MISSOURI'S BATTLE WITH THE BOODLERS. 21 

religious sect or political party affiliation, and yet, although 
condemned and writhing under the shame of exposure, they 
became once more audacious and defiant. 

FEAR AND FLIGHT. 

One result of this rallying of the boodlers and their infa- 
mous gang of political thugs was a little trip to Mexico by 
John K. Murrell and Charles Kratz. Before Murrell and Kratz 
departed for the more salubrious air of old Mexico, the Cir- 
cuit Attorney went boldly to the Lincoln Trust Company and 
demanded that the officials of that Company open the safe 
deposit box, which had been locked under certain written 
conditions mentioned above. Of course, the officers promptly 
declined. They could not even think of such a thing. Mr. 
Folk insisted that they must think and think quickly. He 
reminded them that his demand was not that of a private in- 
dividual, but that of the sovereign State of Missouri. The 
officers, thought better of the proposition, and- finally went 
with Mr. Folk into the Safe Deposit vaults and stood by him 
while he applied the key which Mr. Stock had given him. He 
took down the box, opened it, tore open the paper package 
and deliberately counted the bills in hundreds, fifties, tens and 
other denominations, in all amounting to $75,000. 

He went on the same errand to the Mississippi Valley 
Trust Company. Here he met with more stubborn resistance 
and, soon realizing that his words were having no efifect what- 
ever, he informed the gentlemanly officers that he would go 
immediately to the Four Courts and within an hour have them 
arrested as accessory to the crime of bribery. By the time he 
had gone a block on this errand, tl^e officers of the Mississippi 
Valley Trust Company had changed their minds and called 
him back. They went with him into the Safe Deposit vaults 
and stood by w^hile he took out and opened the box; 
finding, as in the other case, a package containing a large roll 
of greenbacks, the sum total being $60,000. 

THE CORPUS DELICTI. 

After this bold and successful manoeuvre, whenever a 
witness was examined in court, in connection with the Subur- 



22 POLITICAL THUGGERY. 

ban bribery deal, these rolls of money were exposed in the 
court room and Air. Stock was asked to count them in the 
presence of the Judge, jury and eager spectators. He called 
off the amounts, giving finally the total, "$135,000; yes, there 
are all the bills that were to have been divided."' It is scarcely 
necessary to tell other stories of exposure, arrest and convic- 
tion. This may be taken as a type of them all. At last 
knavery was unmasked and the knaves were pilloried by in- 
dignant public opinion. The succeeding events are of such 
recent occurrence as to be fresh in the memory of the public. 
National attention was directed to St. Louis. The Circuit 
Attorney became a figure of national prominence. The first 
clue had been follow^ed successfully. 

An interesting episode in this connection is a published 
interview with Mr. Ed. Butler, in which the shrewd old cor- 
ruptionist laughed at the exposure of the Suburban bribery 
deal, as much as to say, "That's what the boys get by not deal- 
ing with me. They should have known better than to hire 
any body else. If they had employed me and paid my 'fee,' 
I would have delivered the goods." The old man seemed to 
think the whole afifair was a huge joke, and even when he him- 
self finally fell into the toils, and was indicted, arrested, tried 
and convicted by a Boone county jury, the majority of whom 
were Democrats, he still maintained his attitude of blatant 
defiance. Was it because he knew full well that he and his 
comrades in crime still controlled the political and legal ma- 
chinery of the State to such an extent at least as to protect 
themselves, and, in spite of conviction, go unwhipped of jus- 
tice? 

A GRADUAL AWAKENING. 

Although there could not be the slightest question of fact 
in this and other cases, the public became interested but 
slowly. There can be no sort of doubt that the majority of 
people are honest, but ninety-nine out of every hundred are 
overwhelmed with their own concerns. Under the methods 
of modern competitive industry, no successful man, no man 
who aspires to success, has either the time or the strength for 
public business, unless he is unusually public-spirited, and 



MISSOURI'S BATTLE WITH THE BOODLERS. 25 

is willing to make considerable sacrifice for the public good. 
This leaves at least one man in every hundred, who is dis- 
honest and unscrupulous, an opportunity to be perniciously 
active ; and he never misses the opportunity. There w^ere, from 
the very inception of this phenomenal bit of history, a few 
citizens who commended the Circuit Attorney and gave him 
their moral support, but the public at large became interested 
slowly. Evidently the people did not understand the situation 
in all its bearings. They were not out of sympathy with the 
reforms, but they were totally unaware of the tremendous 
task the Circuit Attorney had undertaken. This did not dis- 
turb or deter the prosecutor in his work. 

ANOTHER DEAL. 

He not only continued to prosecute the cases which came 
before him in the development of this particular piece ^of 
bribery, but about a year later took up another matter of the 
same kind, — that which is known as the Central Traction deal. 
The odorous history of this affair dates back to January, 1898. 
This was nothing more nor less than the consolidation of prac- 
tically all of the St. Louis Street railways, except the St. Louis 
and Suburban, into one Company-, known as the St. Louis 
Traction Company; and the securing of a blanket franchise 
covering most of the streets of the entire city. Mr. S., a promi- 
nent capitalist, promoter and church member, of Kansas City 
and New York, came to St. Louis, rented palatial apartments 
at the Planters Hotel, stocked them liberally with choice 
liquors and cigars, and began his infamous task of boodling 
the Central Traction bill through the municipal assembly. He 
spent two or three hundred thousand dollars, and sold out at 
a profit of about a million, to men who were compelled to buy. 

An interesting incident in connection with this particular 
case is the fact that at this very time the Rev. W. F. R., pastor 

of the Church of Kansas City, of which Mr. S. was 

a member, was also in St. Louis assisting in a series of evange- 
listic meetings in the Church on 

Avenue. While his pastor was giving unpaid service to the 
work of individual evangelization, trying to turn men from sin 
to righteousness, the rich and infamous Mr. S. w^as making a 



24 POLITICAL THUGGERY. 

million dollars for himself and friends at the other end of the 
town by debauching and plundering the entire municipality. 
This particular coincident throws a lurid sidelight upon the 
whole subject of commercial and civic corruption. Comment 
is unnecessary. 

A SUMMING UP. 

And now what are the facts which have been laid bare? 
In the first place, we see the immediate and vital connection 
between the business interests of the city and the corrupt ele- 
ments, both in and out of authority. Public service corpora- 
tions, under the present system of control, are necessarily in- 
terested in legislation ; they cannot live without it. They are 
promoted and owned by private citizens. They are private 
corporations doing a business in which the public are inter- 
ested, — rendering a public service. This makes it necessary 
for the city, the State or the nation, as the case may be, to 
become an active party in the control of the business of these 
companies, and that seems very like interference. As long as 
this is the method followed, corruption is inevitable. The 
private corporation will resent the honest and well-meant 
efforts of the public to protect its interests. They will always 
consider it legislative meddling, and w^ill attempt to defend 
themselves against the laws, however just, which lay upon 
them their share of public burdens. They will also be called 
upon to defend themselves against "sandbag'' legislation; nor 
will they hesitate, when they want special favors, to secure 
these favprs in any way possible, no matter how criminal or 
anarchistic the necessary way may be. 

Again, we see in bold outline the character of these men 
who sometimes occupy prominent places in the community, 
and even in our churches, and rank as representative citizens. 
It is a new problem in ethics to know what kind of conscience 
such men have. Do they imagine that a corporation has no 
soul, and therefore whatever a corporation does can not be 
bound by ordinary ethical canons? The fact is, a corporation 
has as many souls as there are individuals composing it, and 
they will find, sooner or later, here or hereafter, that the 
Almightv does not declare dividends in sin and crime! That 



MISSOURI'S BATTLE WITH THE BOODLE_RS. 25 

if a hundred men arc bound together to commit a felony, each 
and every individual is as responsible, morally and legally, 
as if he alone were guilty. The individual does not bear one 
per cent of the crime and ignominy, but he bears one hundred 
per' cent, and each in his turn must be hauled before the bar 
of public opinion and sentenced and punished ; albeit the pun- 
ishment should be remedial, not vindictive. 

If, because of the law's delays and the marvelous and 
mysterious latent power provoked from legal technicalities, 
they escape condign punishment, and never wear stripes on 
their bodies, they must eternally wear stripes on their souls, 
for, though wounds are healed, the scars remain. 

Another phase which should not be lost sight of, and 
which concerns every citizen of both city and State, is the 
relation of bribery and boodlery to public revenues. Since 
public franchises are thus bartered away with practically no 
remuneration to the public, public revenues must be replen- 
ished from the ordinary sources of taxation, and every citizen 
pays taxes whether or not he owns a foot of ground or a 
dollar's worth of property. He pays taxes in the enhanced 
cost of living, because of the burden of taxation upon those 
who own real property and who deal in the necessaries of life. 
Evei:y slum denizen, as well as every resident of the boule- 
vards, sufifers financially because of the plundering of these 
marplots. 

It is a well known fact, in the city of New York, attested 
and authenticated by accurate statistics, that the very death 
rate is higher under machine rule than when the people are 
permitted to rule ; and what Is true of New York is likewise 
true of St. Louis, the proud metropolis of Missouri, and of the 
entire Louisiana Purchase. The filth and squalor which we 
find in our vermin-infested city hospital and all other city in- 
stitutions ; the shameful halt which was called in the com- 
pletion of the new Citv Hall, corruption's monument, are evi- 
dences of the financial and moral loss which the city has suf- 
fered at the hands of these raiders and wreckers. 

Still further, it is a strange partnership which we see re- 
vealed. One party is made up of corporation magnates — 
proud men, honorable men, conspicuous and influential in 



26 POLITICAL THUGGERY. 



n 



city, State and church. They are men who, by the work done 
in the development of industries, have placed the whole com- 
monwealth under obligation ; and yet we here see them asso- 
ciated with the second party ni this weird and wicked com- 
bination, the unprincipled political boss. He is their paid 
agent and representative. He is the "go-between" for them 
in their negotiations with the third group in spectacular wick- 
edness, namely, the slum denizens and corn-crib politicians. 

Men have accepted nomination to office, the remuneration 
of which is contemptibly small, knowing that out of the spoils 
of these offices they could make, and have made, thousands 
and hundreds of thousands of dollars, by doing the will of the 
rich rogues as that will has been conveyed to them through the 
political boss. Other features of the case will be analyzed 
as we proceed^ but it can not be said too often^ it can not be 
too widely published, that all this means the overthrow of 
democratic government. It is easily apparent, even to a casual 
observer, that we have entered upon an era of government by 
wealth. Or, to use a word which has a somewhat demagogic 
flavor, we are not menaced by plutocracy, we already suffer it. 

The question which is being asked all over the nation, and 
with special vehemence and intense indignation throughout 
.^lissouri is: Shall we submit to it? Political thuggery is the 
mailed fist of plutocracy ; shall we cringe and writhe under it, 
or shall we assert our manhood? Doubtless there are good 
citizens who felt at the beginning, and who still feel, that 
these exposures are disgraceful and hurtful. But we do not share 
this feeling, nor do we believe the feeling is general throughout 
the State of Missouri. Quite the contrary. 

Any well balanced view of the situation will lead us to 
rejoice in these exposures of infamy, because in such cases ex- 
posure is the necessary prelude to punishment and correction. 
If a man's arm is gangrened, he does not plaster it with salves 
and lotions, and, when the physician calls, hide it and show 
+he well arm. He knows full well that his life is imperilled, 
and he is entirely willing, and not only willing but anxious, to 
uncover his sore and submit to the severest surgery, even to 
the amputation of his arm, if thereby his life can be saved. 
And this is the only sane attitude for right-thinking citizens. 



MISSOURI'S BATTLE WITH THE BOODLERS. 27 

When the body poHtic is rotting away under the gangrene of 
infamous corruption, exposure and civic surgery are impera- 
tively necessary. Unfortunately, men who are not unprin- 
cipled, men who want to do what is right, are caught up in 
the meshes of corruption and by a peculiar combination of 
circumstances, it would seem are almost coerced into becom- 
ing particeps criminis with the raiders and wreckers. It was 
this knowledge which, in the beginning, led many good people 
to protest and to ask for a suspension of hostilities. They did 
not want to see men of prominence, representative men, of 
whom the whole city had been proud, dragged from their clubs 
and palatial residences and white stone churches, as common 
felons ! 

And here again we can not but dissent from the prevalent 
opinion, and insist that no judicial process is so wholesome, 
no lightning of outraged justice so purifying, as that which 
strikes the rich and influential culprit as well as the poor and 
vicious and friendless. Too long it has been said, "Our crim- 
inal laws are a mere farce whenever the accused happens to be 
a man of wealth and political influence." We shall never have 
a sound body politic, we shall never rise out of the malarial 
swamps of commercial brigandage and political knavery into 
the ^unny heights of freedom and purity and righteousness, 
until it is understood among all classes of people that the 
courts of justice can not be defiled, that the ermine will not 
be soiled, that the law is no respecter of persons, but that 
every accused person shall have a free and impartial trial 
without prejudice and without favoritism ! Not only so, but it 
must be likewise demonstrated that "The wicked prize itself 
(no longer) buys out the law." 

It will become more clearly apparent as point by point is 
discussed, that one of the fundamental principles of a demo- 
cratic government is not only jeopardized but absolutely 
sacrificed, namely : Local self-government. This fact should 
be kept in mind, especially by those who are the sons of sol- 
diers. For it is utterly inconceivable that such men, with such 
a dear-bought heritage of political freedom, will forever allow 
rich and influential citizens, or any number of them, to con- 
spire and combine with citizens of the slums and the denizens 



28 POLITICAL THUGGERY. 



^ 



of the jails and ail-night dives, to wrest from their hands in 
broad daylight the inestimable privilege and priceless right of 
every freeman — the elective franchise ! 



Chapter II. 
A MAN'S MAN. 



Let each man think himself an act of God, 
His mind a thought, his life a breath of God. 

— Bailey. 

''Knozv what yon have to do, and do it" — the great principle 
of success in every direction of human effort: for I believe that 
failure is less frequently attributable to either insufficiency of 
means or impatience of labor, than to a confused understanding 
of the thing actually to be done. — Jolui Ruskin. 

If the heart of a nation be zvise and right, you may depend 
upon it, the lazvs of that nation zvill never long remain radically 
wrong. Free institutions will never of themselves make free men 
out of men zi'ho are tJiemselves the slaves of vice; but free men 
zvill inevitably express their inzvard character in their outzvard 
institutions. The spirit of every kingdom must begin first ''zmthin 
you." — Robertson. 

When the Master of the universe has points to carry in his 
government, he impresses his zinll in the structure of minds. — 
Emerson. 



CHAPTER II. 



A MAN'S MAN. 



A STRONG PERSONALITY NOMINATION AND ELECTION WELL BORN 

IN THE lion's DEN PERILS OF PUBLICITY SUCCESS AND 

TROUBLE— FALLEN AMONG THIEVES. 



No system of business or of government can be devised 
which does not rest in the last analysis upon personal integrity. 
This has always been true. The intricate organization of 
modern society has brought this truth into greater prominence 
than ever. The power for evil of a dishonest or otherwise im- 
moral person has a terrific leverage today. The moral derelic- 
tion of a pioneer on the plains or in the lumber camps of the 
West does not signify very much in the way of social discord ; 
but the moral dereliction of a governor, a senator, a congress- 
man, a mayor, a bank or a trust company officer, may mean 
the temporary paralysis of business, or the overthrow and con- 
fusion of a commonwealth. More than ever is it proved that 
''men constitute a State." No one, who has a reasonably wide 
acquaintance, can for a moment doubt that! there are men, 
multitudes of them, in the State of Missouri, as in all other 
States, such as John G. Holland described years ago when he 
wrote : 

"God, give us men! a time like this demands 

Strong minds, great hearts, true faith and ready hands. 

Men whom the lust of office can not kill. 

Men whom the spoils of office can not buy. 

Men who possess opinions and a will, 

Men who have honor, men who will not lie ! 

Men who can stand before a demagogue 

And damn his treacherous flatteries Avithout winking ! 

Tall men, sun-crowned, who live above the fog 



POLITICAL TIJUGGERY. 33 

In public duty and in private thinking. 
For, while the rabble, with their thumb-worn creeds, 
Their large professions and their little deeds, 
Mingle in selfish strife, lo ! -Freedom weeps ! 
Wrong rules the land and waiting Justice sleeps !" 

A STRONG PERSONALITY. 

Prominent among such men in the State of Missouri is 
the Circuit Attorney, Hon. Joseph W. Folk. The battle 
against the boodlers centres largely around his unique person- 
ality. For a long time he stood alone, but he stood like Gibral- 
tar. Kindred spirits finally rallied to his support, and later 
developments seem to have made the issue one which, while 
it depends on strong personalities, nevertheless overtops any 
and all. As a typical citizen of the Mississippi Valley, every- 
body is interested in Mr. Folk, and, as a type, he is well 
worthy of study. It is most gratifying to those who have high 
and exalted hopes for the future of the nation to reflect that 
such young men as he are found in city, village and hamlet 
throughout the nation ; and that as he has come to the front 
in a time of crisis, so likewise from time to time will other 
young men step to the front and fill the breach. 

Mr. Folk comes from families that are proud of the part 
taken by their ancestors in the American war for independence. 
He was born, October 29, 1869, in Brownsville, Tenn., a little 
city of some three thousand population. His career was that 
of thousands of boys similarly circumstanced. His father was 
a lawyer, with the general practice which falls to the lot of a 
member of the bar in towns of that size. The boy attended 
the public schools, and early in his teens made up his mind 
to follow in his father's footsteps. 

When nineteen years of age, he entered Vanderbilt Uni- 
versity, graduating in law two years later. He opened an 
office in his native town and for three years followed the mixed 
practice which came to him. He left for St. Louis in 1893, at 
the age of twenty-four, allured by the larger prizes, and un- 
daunted by the severer conditions to be found in the growing 
metropolis of the southwest. Here he took up his specialty, 
the practice of corporation law, in which he was unusuallv suc- 

3 



34 POLITICAL THUGGERY. 

cessful. On November lo, 1896, he was married to Miss Gertrude 
Glass, a Tennessee girl, who has borne heroically and admira- 
bly in every detail the duties of her position as wife and helpmeet. 
In this same year he became chairman of the Jefferson Club 
Campaign Committee. 

At that time the Club counted in its membership the 
younger element of the Democratic party. They were full of 
enthusiasm and true to the Jeffersonian ideals which have ever 
been the inspiration of Democrats since the sage of Monti- 
cello lived and labored w4th other makers of the Republic. His 
services here proving" unusually efficient, he was elected Pres- 
ident of the Club in 1898, holding the position during the 
term with dignity and success. 

In 1900 occurred the great Street Railway strike, which 
temporarily paralyzed business, imperilled life and property, 
and well nigh inaugurated a reign of terror. . Citizens from 
all w^alks of life w^ere summoned by the authorities to shoulder 
riot guns and patrol the streets to protect the people from 
acts of violence. An imperious demand arose for arbitration, 
which was finally acceded to, and in the adjudication of these 
difficulties Mr. Folk played a prominent part. The labor 
trouble was ended; peace was restored; the cars began run- 
ning once more, and soon, largely as a result of his self-denying 
eft'orts, business had resumed its wonted channels. 

NOMINATION AND ELECTION. 

Perhaps this incident, more than any other one thing, led 
to his nomination, in the summer of 1900, for Circuit Attorney. 
At first he declined, but at length reluctantly yielded and ac- 
cepted the nomination. He was elected by a plurality of three 
thousand votes, and inducted into office on January 2, 1901. 
Then came the first shock of surprise. During the canvass for 
the office, he stated repeatedly that if elected he would do his 
duty, no matter who might suffer. Occasionally a nervous 
and time-serving politician would inquire what such a state- 
ment meant, but he was invariably reassured by some one who said 
it w^as 'good campaign talk,' and that Joe' Folk w^as 'a good 
boy wdio knew^ his friends.' Subsequently, the statement found 
its interpretation, if any were needed, when Mr. Folk, elected 



MISSOURI'S BATTLE WITH THE BOODLERS. 35 

to this responsible place, selected his own assistants, Andrew 
C. Maroney and C. Orrick Bishop, both able criminal lawyers 
as well as upright and reliable gentlemen. Ed. Butler, the 
political boss, called and congratulated the 3^oung man, and 
ventured to suggest a certain person as a suitable assistant. 

He was astounded when Mr. Folk told him that his 
assistants had already been appointed ! The boss informed 
him that there were other men who had claims on the party 
and indeed had been promised the place. But Mr. Folk replied 
that, so far as he was concerned, he had made no promises 
whatever. The party leaders who had ventured to promise 
places found themselves reckoning without their host. To 
all attempts to cajole or frighten him into compliance with 
their wishes, Mr. Folk had but one rejoinder : "As Circuit 
Attorney, I am neither a Democrat nor a Republican. I am 
an official and shall do my duty regardless of consequences." 

WELL BORN. 

The firmness and fearlessness which Mr. Folk showed 
from the very moment of his induction into office are con- 
spicuous traits in his character. It is not a little remarkable 
that such qualities, together with fidelity to his sworn obliga- 
tions as an offijcer of the law, should awaken amazement and 
consternation in the party and lead to such extraordinary 
results in the community. It proves, not that -these qualities 
,ire rare in Missouri manhood, but, that men possessing these 
qualities are rarely elected to any office of public trust. 

It is an old saying, ''blood will tell." The Folk family may 
be taken as fairly representative of a large section of our 
American population. His brother, Reau E. Folk, has been 
State Treasurer of Tennessee ; Carey A. Folk, President of 
Boscotal College ; Edgar E. Folk, editor of "The Baptist and 
Reflector," and still another brother, Humphrey B. Folk, a 
minister of the gospel. 

This particular campaign, against civic corruption and 
infamous lawlessness, shows most admirably how in this man 
Folk, and in others who come up from similar rural environ- 
ments, the State and the nation must always find deliverance. 
If it were not for the new, fresh blood which flows into the 



36 . POLITICAL THUGGERY. 

cities from the country, the}' would long ago have become 
like Sodom and Gomorrah, and the angry skies would have 
rained fire upon them and consumed them from the face of 
the earth. 

IN THE LION'S DEN. 

As time passed, Mr. Folk found himself where any other 
man of deep convictions, moral earnestness and aggressive 
courage must find himself under similar circumstances — in the 
lion's den. He had not been flung there by his enemies, like 
Daniel of old ; but, in the discharge of his duty, he had fear- 
lessly walked there. With that imperturbable smile of his, he 
gazed into the eyes of the beasts of the jungle "even as a boy 
upon a laughing girl." No one who has never visited a city 
slum can fully appreciate the perilous position in which this 
young man found himself. In another chapter we have made 
an effort to bring city conditions before our readers. 

It is, of course, generally known that in every large city 
there are sections through which it is unsafe to go alone after 
nightfall. It is here that we find the always-open saloon, the 
all-night dive and the swarming population of the nether 
world — the potThouse politician, the jail-bird, the bum, the thug 
and the plug-ugly. In our large cities in Missouri and 
throughout the nation, it is the criminal and semi-criminal 
population that is used by corrupt and designing men to defeat 
the will of the people and secure, in the way of special privileges, 
what they desire from city and State alike ; and the work done by 
Circuit Attorne}' Folk had antagonized these really dangerous 
classes. 

There can be no manner of doubt that his life was in peril, 
and for a time he deferred to the wishes of his friends and 
employed a body-guard, but soon grew weary of the espionage 
and dismissed him. As he had fearlessly and firmly declared, 
he continued in the only way open to a conscientious man, — 
regardless of consequences. It is in the work of such men 
who are occasionally found in all parties, and whose influence 
is in all communities, that our hope lies. 



MISSOURI'S BATTLE WITH THE BOODLERS. 37 

Lowell said, "What is so rare as a day in June?" We 
must say : "What is so rare as a conscientious public serv- 

PERILS OF PUBLICITY. 

ant?" Rare indeed is it that men of real ability will consent 
to surrender their private business for the distractions and 
tribulations and small remuneration of a public career. And 
when men who have been honest enter such a career with the 
bestof intentions, they are in great danger of being smirched 
by the ooze and slime of slum politics. They are likewise 
assailed by men who want favors and are abundantly able to 
pay for them with both money and conspicuous promotion. 
They meet with great opportunities for gratifying their 
cupidity and ambition, and it is no wonder that, in such an 
atmosphere and such soil, multitudes suffer moral asphyxia- 
tion and fall and sink to rise no more. 

SUCCESS AND TROUBLE. 

James Whitcomb Riley, in a moment of inspiration, sings : 
"I've al'ays noticed grate success 
Is mixed with trubbles more or less ; 
And it's the one who does the best 
That gits more kicks than all the rest !" 

This hits off a great truth, and fits the facts, but a man's 
man will display courage and persistence nevertheless. What- 
ever else he may be, he is no coward ! A peculiar feature of 
the situation is the fact that the greatest tax on his courage 
does not consist in facing his avowed and malignant enemies, 
but in facing unknown foes and unimagined perils ; in facing 
the misgivings and reproaches of quondam friends. His 
courage niust be of sufficient measure to enable him to make 
great sacrifice of private interests. 

When we are denouncing the rogues who are occupying 
public offices and feeding at the public crib, do we ever stop 
to think where we can find honest, upright men who will 
forsake their private business for the public good? Suppose 
that every rascal were turned out of office in Missouri today, 
are there honest, conscientious, capable citizens to be found in 
numbers large enough to fill their places? And, too, a man in 
such a place must be willing to be slandered ; to be pelted 



38 POLITICAL THUGGERY. 

with jejune epithets ; to have his reputation attacked by design- 
ing and maUcious enemies, who have everything to gain and 
nothing to lose. And yet Joseph W. Folk and others have 
demonstrated that there are men in the community who have 
the courage and the endurance to encounter all this and more. 

FALLEN AMONG THIEVES. 

Without exaggeration it can be said that the City of St. 
Louis at this time had falle;i among thieves. Indeed it had 
been the spoil of thieves for years. "We got a moon yet, aint 
it? What more do you zvantf These are the words which 
vere addressed to a Committee of citizens by the Hon. Henry 
Ziegenhein, a German American politician, who was then 
IMayor of St. Louis, and who thus answered their protest 
because of culpable delay on the part of the City Fathers in 
furnishing light to a large section of the city. That this man 
was a Republican did not seem to make the slightest difference 
in the affairs of the municipality, and this fact goes to prove 
conclusively, if any proof be needed, that plunderers of munici- 
palities have no politics ; that they constitute a party by them- 
selves, a party of daring lawlessness, a party which plots and 
conspires with criminals and thieves upon officially protected 
thievery. 

Strange, indeed, that in view of this fact intelligent citi- 
zens of a great municipalit}': will permit themselves to be 
divided in allegiance between the two great parties, and thus 
defeat themselves, instead of taking their cue from the crim- 
inals and conspirators whom they must combat, and making 
a municipal party which shall stand for common decency, for 
law and order, for dignity and high moral purpose. 

The streets of the city in many sections were neglected 
until they became impassable quagmires. More than once the 
strange and humiliating spectacle w^as witnessed of fire unre- 
strained consuming a fine dwelling, with the fire engine two 
or three blocks aAvay mired down in a city street ! The city 
hospital for years has occupied a tumble-down, vermin-infested 
brick building, in which a well man would very soon contract 
a serious illness, because of the deplorably defective condition 
of the structure. The poor and the insane have been compelled 








So 









'^im<^i,iSim»h:^i^^LsCM > 



^%.-j^<!^ ;r^; 



^^i^s^^-'s«fU:iS!^'!*i;<^^ 



JAMES A. REED. 



40 POLITICAL THUGGERY. 



^ 



to occupy the same quarters, both of them bemg crowded. But 
language can not give more than a faint idea of the awful 
condition of the proud metropolis of the southwest under the 
reign of the boss, and to this shameful and humiliating state 
St. Louis was brought for the want of a larger number of 
manly men willing to sacrifice time and means, for the common 
weal. No wonder a speaker at the Chatsworth Hall indigna- 
tion meeting, described in another chapter, asked in amaze- 
ment, "Are you the sons of soldiers? Are you yourselves 
veterans of the Civil War? Where is the stubborn, sturdy 
resolve of the Yankee, and the dare and dash and chivalry of 
the Southerner?" 

And yet we do not believe that these superb qualities of sol- 
dierly courage have died out. They are only slumbering. Nor 
indeed can it be said that they slumber any longer ! The forces 
of unrighteousness have over-reached themselves and their 
defiant aggressiveness has recoiled upon their own heads. 
The State of Missouri is aroused, as it has not been since the 
troubled times of the 6o's, when armed bands marched up and 
down over her fertile fields and rendezvoused by her murmur- 
ing rivers. It may be the issue is in part still obscured by 
wilful and designing partisans, but the majority of the people 
are beginning to see the facts as they are; and nothing more is 
necessary, where every man's heart throbs with vehement 
indignation at cruel wrongs inflicted and rights ruthlessly 
invaded and denied. Prof. WJ. McGee has told us that 
Missourians are larger and finer types of physical manhood 
than the men of any other section ; and so the conduct and 
results of this campaign will show that in mentality and moral- 
ity, as well as in brawn, Missourians are among the highest 
type of men, and worthy of such a leader as Joseph W. Folk. 



Chapter III. 
THE PUBLIC PULSE, 



Yoli cannot rely much on the extraordinary people. Phe- 
nomena are interesting as studies, but not of niucli value for 
service. You cannot depend upon exceptional thiiigs. The lamp 
which continues its flickering is better than the rocket for steady 
illumination. The plain people do the ivorld's zvork. And they 
are behind the leaders, giving them their place and their poiver. 
The renown of great men comes principally from men who have 
no renozvn in themselves. — /. F. Carson. 



CHAPTER III. 



THE PUBLIC PULSE. 



SOVEREIGN POWER THE CITY PAPERS — INTERESTING EPISODES 

SAVED BY HOPE PUBLIC INDIGNATION DEALING WITH 

ANARCHY ZIGZAGGING. 



Our government is not a pure democracy, but a repre- 
sentative democracy. The people bear rule through their 
accredited representatives whom they are supposed to elect. 
In such a government it is impossible to set bounds to the 
power of public opinion. The only way to circumvent it is to 
keep the people uninformed, or misinformed, concerning any 
proposed nefarious measure. If it be granted that, in spite 
of the disintegrating influences of our civilization, the vast 
majority of our people are still pure-hearted and right- 
motived, then it follows as a matter of course that govern- 
ment in theory as well as in practice should be pure. 

It is sometimes said, as if it were practicable and as if it 
were a cure-all for political corruption, "Elect only good men 
to ofhce." Something is surely forgotten when this slogan is 
raised. In the first place, we forget that our government is 
representative. If only good men were elected to office, who 
would represent the fellows of the lewd and baser sort? They 
constitute a not inconsiderable element of our population, 
especially in the large cities, and unfortunately they are the 
most active when it comes to the manifold exercise of civic 
rights. They not only see to it that the men elected represent 
them, but that the upright majority, who are pre-occupied 
with their private affairs, have very few, if any, men of their 
own type as their representatives. 

We are perfectly willing to have every section of our 
community participate in public affairs, provided only and 
always that this participation does not violate the common 
laws of decency, not to say the statute laws of the land. We 



44 POLITICAL THUGGERY. 

are likewise willing for them to choose and elect men of their 
own ilk as their representatives, if they can! But we insist 
that theit representatives, especially wTien they pollute their 
offices by all manner of wickedness, are not our representa- 
tives, nor the State's ; they are partisans of criminals in ofhce. 

SOVEREIGN POWER. 

AA'hile there can be no question as to the sovereign powder 
of public opinion, it must nevertheless be sorrowfully admitted 
that the public conscience slumbers; that the so-called "better 
classes" are supremely indifferent to the public good. George 
William Curtis once said, *'\\^hen good men sit at home, not 
knowing that anything needs to be done, nor caring to know^; 
half suspecting that a Republic is the vulgar and contemptible 
rule of the mob, and secretly longing for a splendid and 
vigorous despotism ; then, be it remembered, that the govern- 
ment resulting is not the victory of the slums, but the sur- 
render of the schools ; it is not that bad men are brave, but 
that good men are infidels and cowards !" Although uttered 
more than a generation ago, these words are as apropos now 
as then. They bear with vehement insistence upon the imme- 
diate crisis which confronts us. 

THE CITY PAPERS. 

But finally the work which had been done by fearless and 
faithful Grand Juries began to receive its meed of public 
applause. With scarcely an exception, indeed with no excep- 
tion worth mentioning, the city press commended the work. 
Sometimes, in a pessimistic mood, we are inclined to criticise 
the daily papers because they do not lead in the exposures 
of infamous wrong and the moulding of public opinion. We 
forget that a modern newspaper is an immense commercial 
enterprise, and that its prosperity, not to say its survival, 
depends upon the ruling conditions in the commercial world. 

Suppose the papers had been first and foremost, as thev 
easily might have been, in the work which was taken up bv 
]\Ir. Joseph W. Folk before the Grand Jury, immediately they 
would have brought upon their devoted heads the wrath and 
vengeance of vested business interests. Their advertising 



MISSOURI'S BATTLE Wi'l ii TJIE BOODLERS. 45 

patronage would have been jeopardized and doubtless much 
of it lost; for advertising is the quartz mine of the modern 
newspaper. No matter what might be the private opinions 
and purposes of the editors, the wishes of the stockholders 
and directors must be consulted ; and whether we like it or not, 
a newspaper must, to some extent, if not absolutely, be con- 
trolled from the counting room. 

In view of this simple statement of the case, we believe 
that we have a right to rejoice in the attitude of the public 
press. The time may come, when our civilization has arisen 
several grades higher, when a great newspaper may be a 
great leader and molder of public opinion. But, at present, 
it seems to be rigidly confined to the less noble function of 
reflecting public opinion. Still we will hold to our high ideals, 
and anticipate the time when, as a recent waiter put it, — 
"Before the chariot of the millenial King will roll a printing 
press, and the wing of the Apocalyptic angel will be a printed 
page." 

INTERESTING EPISODES. 

So, through the medium of the daily papers the applause 
of the public began to be heard. Highminded and honorable 
men set themselves to work to re-enforce the public prosecutor 
by raising an emergency fund. It is a shame that such a 
recourse should have been necessary. But can we expect any- 
tlnng else, when, judging from appearances, for a long period 
of time the criminal and semi-criminal mal-contents among 
us have exercised a moulding influence upon our public insti- 
tutions? With the moral encouragement which the raising 
of a fund for prosecution created, the machinery of the law 
continued its merciless grind. This little incident was a 
capital point in unearthing further fraud and pushing to a suc- 
cessful conclusion the cases already on the docket ; and, as 
long as there is moral earnestness and vitality in city and 
State, we may expect just such aids to the ordinary and regu- 
larly appointed modes of justice. They are indispensable, and 
all honor is due to the people who initiated them. Be it remem- 
bered that they likewise became conspicuous for their cour- 
ageous and steadfast support of the State, and that they 



46 POLITICAL THUGGERY. 

thereby became the targets at which all the stenchful artillery 
of the mob was aimed. 

Another interesting episode in this connection was that of 
raising a fund of $15,000, among the merchants and manufac- 
turers in the city of St. Louis, to purchase a home for Circuil 
Attorney Folk, and present it to him with the compliments and 
congratulations of his fellow townsmen. Mr. Folk was deeply 
moved by this proffered testimonial, but immediately declined 
the courteous offer. He insisted that as a sworn public officer 
he was only doing his duty, for which he neither asked nor 
anticipated any reward. 

It must forever redound to the credit of St. Louis that 
such a testimonial was offered, and no less does it redound to 
the credit of Circuit Attorney Folk that the generous offer 
was declined. It was an assurance from the best people of the 
City that their hearts were with the young man in his heroic 
and arduous toil ; that they admired his courage and genius 
and stood ready to support him in every possible way. 

It may be regarded as another indication of the premise 
upon which this whole book is written, that however soiled and 
turbid the surface of the stream of history may be, underneath 
the floating carcasses and scum flows steadfastly a deep, pure 
current of moral principle. Conversations over coffee and 
cigars, in clubs and hotels and restaurants, among gentlemen 
who met casually on street corners and in street cars, gave 
still further currency to right sentiments and leavened the 
entire community with right feeling. 

SAVED BY HOPE. 

We are municipally, as well as nationally and individually, 
saved by hope. It is not the noisy and vociferous deliverances 
of the demagogue to which we must look in moments of crises 
and peril ; nor yet to the flamboyant utterances of the pulpit 
or press, but to the quiet, determined, earnest work of the 
level-headed men who "know the right, and knowing, dare 
maintain ;" they hold the saving common sense of the nation ; 
they must be the steadfast reliance of a fearless and faithful 
pulpit and press, as well as of the politician whose stainless 
record entitles him to be called, not politician, but statesman. 



MISSOURI'S BATTLE WITH THE BOODLERS. 47 

And it is likewise among them that we must go to find 
that capacity for indignation without which self-government 
must be a farce and a failure ; for, in a land blessed with almost 
an excess of freedom, as ours is, there will be continued inroads 
upon public rights and transgressions of both common and 
statute law by the vicious and criminal classes. They will 
usurp the forms of civic administration and rule by the might 
of the terror they inspire and the entangling alliances with 
the respectable classes which, with Satanic ingenuity, they 
create and sustain. 

PUBLIC INDIGNATION. 

When from either extreme of society, top or bottom, upper- 
crust or under-crust, a raid is made upon public institutions or 
the public treasury, no matter what may be its character, the 
people have a right to be indignant. Not only do they have 
such a right, but they will be indignant unless among them 
also conscience is seared as with a hot iron. And there is no 
better index to the character of a community than its capacity 
for indigation. A man who does not feel outraged when his 
rights are taken from him, or when cruel wrongs are inflicted 
upon him, must be himself a knave or a weakling. It will 
not do to condone the offense and let the offender go free. 
Even if the ordinary processes of law fail and are defeated, 
there should yet be sufficient energy in the hearts of the people, 
and r^al makers of public opinion, to punish with scorn and 
v/bloquy and the perpetual obscurity of private life, all daring 
wrong-doers. Let the hot blow-pipe of an outraged peoples' 
indignation be focused upon them ! The v/hitecaps some- 
times take a criminal and cover him with a coat of tar and 
feathers. The contempt which covers audacious criminals and 
political brigands should be like that coat of tar and feathers. 

Perhaps it ought to be said that one of the most gratifying 
results of this whole chapter of municipal history is the demon- 
stration of the fact that the great majority of the citizens of 
St. Louis and imperial Missouri are not only industrious, pro- 
gressive and thrifty, but they are also possessed of great moral 
earnestness. It means much for the future of the city of St. 
Louis that roguery, long triumphant and defiant, has been 



48 POLITICAL THUGGERY. 

unmasked ; that the public conscience, for a long time somno- 
lent, has at last been aroused. Macaulay says that only when 
conditions of oppression aiid misrule have become intolerable 
will they be righted by English-speaking people. Perhaps, 
therefore, the intolerable conditions under which we have 
suffered have been necessary as a counter-irritant and helpful 
stimulus to the body politic. Be that as it may, the State of 
Missouri has enjoyed this remedial agency. 

There is a constant tendency during 'the piping times of 
peace' for men to sink into a sweet and sunny optimism, and 
become supremely indifferent to anything which does not 
press upon them immediately and demand their attention. 
There can be no safe optimism which is not based upon a thor- 
ough and comprehensive knowledge of facts, whatever they 
may be. No man, save only one who is well informed concern- 
ing the life and tendency of his times, has any right to be 
either an optimist or a pessimist. We firmly believe that great 
gain will come to the State of jNIissouri from the awakening 
which recent developments in the State and in the cities have 
brought about. 

DEALING WITH ANARCHY. 

In one of the most stirring meetings ever held in the City 
of St. Louis, a meeting which is described in another chapter, 
Judge Sterling P. Bond said : 

'Tt has been the history of every age that but few men 
have been capable of wielding power with justice, and while 
in a republic parvenues and adventurers, at times, seem to 
ascend to power and brutality, yet it has ever been the history 
in this country that their brutish sway and abandoned inso- 
lence have been the beginning of their final dissolution and 
defeat. 

"So it has ever been, that where tyranny has played her 
role, she has done so by tramphng upon the laws and the liber- 
ties of the people, who, in the last analysis, are the sovereigns 
of despots. 

''And in a state like this in which we live, the head of 
anarchy should no more than show itself ere it is cut off by the 
swords of men who cherish and are ready to defend their 
inalienable rio^hts and libertv. 



MISSOURI'S BATTLE WITH THE BOODLERS. 49 

"So also, the annals of the world point out that there are a 
few men who are capable of meeting any crisis which confronts 
their country. 

"Missouri is our home and our first love. Can anarchy 
reign in the remotest hamlet or in her largest cities without 
being trampled to death by the untarnished men who live 
within her borders, and dare to defend the rights of men 
against the insolence of the corrupt? 

"Here we have anarchy and bribery. The laws enacted to 
safe-guard the sacred rights of citizenship are looked upon 
with derision and contempt by the officers of the law who have 
taken oath to uphold, defend and enforce the laws. 

''This unseemly spectacle arises from the minions and offi- 
cers of the law obeying the will and nod of their masters. 
Their masters are appointed by an executive. The executive 
can eradicate the evil or bid it live.' If he would destroy the 
source of anarchy he must lop off the heads of the men in 
authority and in control of the patrolmen, because it can not 
be conceived that a thousand men who walk these streets 
as sworn peace officers would in unison and one accord violate 
their oaths and the written law without the sanction and com- 
mand of their superiors. 

"Though we be private citizens, our sacred duties to the 
State are not less onerous than those of the executive. We 
must all arise, like an army for the defense of our country, to 
erase the last vestige of bribery and anarchy from the com- 
monwealth, aye, the commonwealth of Missouri and the com- 
monwealth of these United States." 

This brief extract from the stirring speech of Judge Bond 
is an appeal which, at one and the same time, voices public 
sentiment and creates it. So valuable are right ideals, so 
indispensable is the eager and sustained attention of the rank 
and file of citizens to civic duties, that although chagrined and 
humiliated, we may yet be grateful for the disorderly and 
deplorable conditions that have aroused a commonwealth. Or, 
if this statement be considered too strong, then we may say 
that this efifect upon the State is one of the many good results 
that have followed and that will always follow a career of 
audacious wickedness. 



50 POLITICAL THUGGERY. 

James Russell Lowell says, in "Bigelow Papers": — 
"Abstract war is horrid, 

I sign to that with all my heart; 
But civilization does git forrid 

Sometimes upon a powder cart.'' 

ZIGZAGGING. 

And in a similar strain we may say that corruption and 
anarchy under the forms of law are "horrid." Defiant and 
triumphant invasions of popular rights are appalling, and yet 
by such means as these, horrid and appalling as they are, the 
civilization of a State and city may "git forrid." To be sure 
the State of ^Missouri is still on trial. Lincoln Steffens, at 
about the time the events herein narrated were happening, 
wrote a trenchant article entitled "The Shamelessness of St. 
Louis," which appeared in ^IcClure's ^Magazine of ]\Iarch, 
1903. Xo matter how just this characterization may seem to 
have been at that time, we believe that it no longer describes 
the condition of this great city. St. Louis has not dismissed 
and exiled her rabble. She is still cursed with a slum section ; 
with the merciless and vindictive reign of the boss ; wdth the 
undermining influence of wealth and talent prostituted to 
purposes most base ; yet the city has nevertheless been aroused 
as never iDcfore in Her history : and, unless a little coterie of 
rich plungers and political parasites succeed in subsidizing the 
press and intimidating men to whom we naturally turn for 
daring leadership, the time is at hand when St. Louis will 
stand erect, with her heel upon the necks of her infamous 
spoilers and oppressors. L'nless the city shall thus clear her- 
self ; unless she cleanses away the political vermin, leeches and 
parasites that have been sucking her very life-blood, and 
humiliating her before the eyes of the world, then indeed may 
popular magazine writers talk without let or hindrance about 
'The Shamelessness of St. Louis," and our World's Fair visitors 
wonder at her supine indifference. 

It is meet in troublous times to turn to the pulpit, the 
press and the platform for the moral energy and daring recti- 
tude which are necessary to the formation of right public 
opinion, and the adoption of right courses. AVe believe that 




HARRY B. HAWES. 



52 POLITICAL THUGGERY. 

when these soiled pages of the city's history are written and 
folded down, it will be apparent to all the world that these 
sources of power have not been altogether wanting. On the 
other hand, we believe that many pulpits, as well as many 
editors and othe^ writers and speakers, will have made a last- 
ing impression upon the minds and consciences of the com- 
munity ; and whatever may be the final outcome, whether sad 
and sorrowful failure and a recrudescence of barbarism, or a 
glorious victory of civic morality and righteousness, these 
men will have cleared their skirts. 

The people may be misinformed and misled ; but the time 
shortly comes when they discover that they have been duped, 
and then woe betide their deceivers ! The popular pulse beats 
firm and strong for justice, freedom and equity. 



Chapter IV. 
RESULTS. 



/ c!ai]u, that notzvith standing the cries of corruption, not- 
zinihstanding the zuails of the Jeremiahs about the deplorable state 
of politics, that the people of this country are getting just exactly 
as good government as they deserve. There is a great deal of 
talk about the Senate of the United States being a ''bankers' 
Club;' about "Sugar Trust senators'' ; but I staiid here to say that 
if the United States senate has in it an imbecile niillionaire zi'ho 
does not knozv enough to anszver to the yea and nay of the roll- 
call, he is there because some constituency sent him there. Not 
all the millions of the Vanderbilts multiplied by those of all the 
Astors can put a corrupt man in any office if the people do not 
care to have him there. These men are in pozcer because the people 
do not attend to their duties. 

There are more good people thaji bad pople in this country ; 
if there are not, then the government of the United States should 
quit business, go into the hands of a receiver and shut up shop. 
I knozu there are a number of men in this country zi'ho love to en- 
large their phylacteries and go about the streets thanking God 
that they are not like other men. There are men zvho like to talk 
about the degrading and contaminating touch of modern politics, 
zvho get off and flock by themselves because they are too good to 
associate z^'ith their fellozvs. But I notice that such men are very 
doubtful, and in that respect a man is like an egg; zvhen it takes 
an argument to prove that lie is very good, he is doubtful, and 
zi'hen he is doubtful, he is bad. — John J. Jngalls. 



CHAPTER IV. 



RESULTS. 

THE SEARCHING TEST WHAT IS SUCCESS — TREMENDOUS ODDS A 

FEARFUL POWER ANOTHER ELEMENT WHO ARE MOST 

ACTIVE INEXCUSABLE INDIFFERENCE BRIBERY MADE EX- 
TRADITABLE NINETEEN CONVICTIONS. -~- 



Every body wants results. Advertisers want them ; 
teachers and students want them; preachers and politicians 
and public prosecutors want them. A party will demand 
results of its leaders and workers in the rank and file. In 
time of war, military leaders are held responsible for results. 
If they are not satisfactory, the leaders are deposed and others 
are installed. No farmer ever turns a furrow or plants a crop 
without a buoyant hope of results in an abundant harvest. 
Gardens and orchards are meaningless unless there be results 
in bloom and fruit. Even so, reformers, — no matter how 
deplorable the situation, nor how great the obstacles, nor how 
vicious the enemies, are held accountable for results. When 
a lawyer draws up his pleadings and files his suit, he does it in 
anticipation of satisfactory results, in the ordinary grind of 
judicial procedure, both for himself and for his client. Ships 
are launched and freighted; railroads are built and bonded; 
constitutions and laws are created, for results. 

THE SEARCHING TEST. 

Workers here and everywhere must submit to this search- 
ing test of their efficiency. It will not do to spend one's time 
in manufacturing excuses and explanations. Instead of work- 
ing the "excuse factory" over-time, as employees sometimes do, 
they should spend their energy in result-producing enterprise. 
To be sure there are conditions which may postpone the 
accomplishment of the best laid purposes, but a mere post- 



56 POLITICAL THUGGERY. 



'^1^^ 



ponement must be made a stepping stone to ultimate success. 
Temporary defeat is easily possible and of frequent occurrence. 
No matter how efficient the worker, no matter whether a man 
serves the city, the state, the nation or a private concern, he 
must, sooner or later, be able to show results. Even the men 
who serve themselves, will find their standing- in the com- 
munity is determined by nothing so much as by their ability 
to produce results. The man who is a perpetual failure, no 
matter how earnest and industrious he may be, needs some- 
thing to redeem him from reproach and ignominy. 

WHAT IS SUCCESS? 

We must never lose sight of what really constitutes suc- 
cess on the one hand, or failure on the other. The martyrs of 
Smithfield may be looked upon as monumental failures or as 
monumental successes. John Bunyan in Bedford jail was only 
a poor and despised tinker, but he was a brilliant success, not 
a dilapidated and contemptible failure. Savonarola died a 
martyr in his effort to make Florence a city of God, a city 
of triumphant righteousness, but no one ever thinks of stigma- 
tizing his martyrdom as a spectacular failure. Better any time 
go to Golgotha with the Nazarene than to a throne with 
Caesar. 

TREMENDOUS ODDS. 

Probably the great majority of our citizens will never 
fully realize the tremendous odds against which the battle with 
the boodlers has been waged from the firing of the first gun. 
It is a hard thing to say, and it is by no means an easy thing 
to think, that almost incalculable wealth, in the hands of 
covetous and mercenary men, has been arrayed in tireless and 
determined opposition. 

The full force of this simple statement can not be realized 
unless we call a halt and think of the far-reaching influence 
of organized wealth in our midst. In the first place, it is gen- 
erally in the hands of men who, because of their industrial 
triumphs, are honored with the title, "Captains of Industry." 
Not only are they men of thrift and enterprise in the commer- 
cial world, but they generally stand for the earnest, productive 
elements of the State. They do not represent tramps, crim- 



MISSOURI'S BATTLE WrfH THE BOODLERS. 57 

inals and social parasites. Their associations are with leaders 
of thought and moulders of public opinion. Many, if not most, 
of them are on the right side of an issue more than half the 
time, and always on the right side of an issue which has 
become publicly triumphant ; for although they may not heart- 
ily approve the verdict which the people have rendered, they 
are nevertheless shrewd enough to know when it is useless to 
stand out against the tide. 

]Many time^, although the corporation of which they are 
a part, is engaged in corrupt and wicked methods of business, 
through its officers, they themselves purposely remain ignorant 
of the fact. Thus they are in a position to use the immense 
influence which they possess among their associates, who may 
be judges, reputable lawyers, honored physicians, famous min- 
isters, merchants, manufacturers, etc. ; and this is but one 
point of advantage for the cause that has the sympathy and 
support of the wealthy man. 

A FEARFUL POWER. 

It is unneccessary to mention the vast resources which 
are theirs because of their power to take the bread and butter 
from hungry mouths, the roof from poor families and the 
covering from crying babes, simply by refusing employment. 
The mere intimation that a factory may shut down is enough 
to send a tremor of terror through the hearts of scores of in- 
dustrious, but dependent, toilers; nor can it be doubted that 
this terrific power has been employed by the masters of men 
in order to protect their vested interests. 

If the reader will follow out this single force, in its inter- 
minable ramifications, he will be overwhelmed with a con- 
sciousness of the well-nigh invincible energy that is arrayed 
against civic reform. We would not be understood as here 
incriminating all business men, but what we are saying is true, 
indisputably true, of multitudes of big business men in this nation 
of ours. 

There are men of quite another class, engaged in the suc- 
cessful prosecution of other kinds of business, who rank as 
high as those who choose to cast their lot with the rabble. 
They have been heard from in the present campaign in ^lis- 



58 POLITICAL THUGGERY. 

souri, and they will be heard from as moons wax and wane, 
suns rise and set, in the years that are to come. 

ANOTHER ELEMENT. 

Before glancing once more at the results which have been 
accomplished by the fearless exposure of official knavery and 
anarchy in the seats of the mighty, it will be well to take into 
account another element of the opposition, and that is the 
wicked and criminal classes of the community. All criminals are 
wicked, although all the wncked are not criminal. But every- 
body knows that there are characters, in every large city espe- 
cially, that live by promoting vice and crime, and the criminal 
and vicious are never satisfied, even as hell and destruction 
are never full. Occasionally, lawless vice will buy protection 
from the peace officers of a municipality w4th a part of the 
spoil which it lays its felonious hands upon, and in considera- 
tion of which the authorities consent to the prosecution of their 
devilish business. 

The great, proud city of Minneapolis has only recently 
been shamed by officially protected vice and crime. A certain 
per cent went into the hands of the city's officials, and all man- 
ner of unclean beasts prowled throughout the city unmolested. 
This great underworld of vice and crime is always populous. 
Its inhabitants, as a rule, are citizens of the globe. They may 
be in Minneapolis today, in St. Louis tomorrow, in San Fran- 
cisco next week, in London for the summer and in South Africa 
for next winter. But they are numerous enough to furnish' a 
residuum of the morally unfit and socially menacing at all times 
for all sections of the world that will consent to harbor them. 
We find among them thieves, burglars, highwaymen, pick- 
pockets, assassins and murderers. There is no crime on the 
calendar which has not been committed at some time by some 
of them, and w^hich they can not be procured to commit again 
for a consideration. 

Sometimes these people are referred to as the "saloon 
vote." This is no compliment either to them or to the saloon. 
It is a well known fact that the saloon is the rallying place for 
these promoters of civic plunder, these beasts of prey ; as it 



MISSOURI'S BATTLE WITH THE BOODLERS. 59 

is also well known that the baleful fires of passion are kindled 
and sustained by alcoholic beverages. 

It has been said that the State machine in Missouri con- 
trols this vote in St. Louis, Kansas City and St. Joseph, by 
means of the three boards of police commissioners who are the 
personal representatives of the Governor. It is amazing to 
think that intelligent men will stoop so low and venture so 
far as to employ the most dangerous classes in the community 
in the work of carrying elections. And yet municipal history 
in Missouri solemnly attests this fact and the people of city and 
State and nation should knoAv it. 

WHO ARE MOST ACTIVE. 

Now we can easily see how the dangerous classes them- 
selves, under more or less capable leadership, may plot and 
conspire against the common weal. We can understand how they 
may open up negotiations with politicians and with office- 
holders ; that is, how they themselves may be originators of 
infamous schemes for looting the public treasury and plying 
their trade of crime. There can be no doubt that the initia- 
tive often proceeds from them ; they are absolutely without 
party loyalty. It is immaterial to the thug and the plug-ugly 
what party bears rule. It is a matter without any bearing 
whatever upon their interests ; but it is a matter of serious 
moment to them when unpurchasable men hold office, whether 
they be called Democrats or Republicans. They hate nothing 
so much as a man who can neither be bought nor intimidated 
nor cajoled. And it is equally certain that the opposition first 
described — that of men of wealth and social prestige — some- 
times originate a scheme of plunder and, in order to carry it 
through successfully, open up negotiations with the dangerous 
classes of the city, employing them under capable leadership 
to do the dirty work. 

What a confederacy is this ! It is a "covenant with death 
and a league with hell." Such men could not possibly form so 
infamous a partnership unless their consciences had first been 
seared, their moral judgment rendered obtuse, and their very 
"^inds clouded by the gangrene of greed. And yet, who shall 
sa}' whether it is greed of gain for gain's sake, or for the sake 



60 POLITICAL THUGGERY. 

of indulging extravagant tastes which they and their families 
have developed in that w^orld of organized mimicry called 
"society?" Be that as it may, it is enough to know that such 
alliances are formed, and that such forces are arrayed against 
us in the battle for the integrity of the Republic and its insti- 
tutions. 

INEXCUSABLE INDIFFERENCE. 

This powerful confederacy is the real enemy of the Re- 
public. As we have intimated elsewhere, a tremendous re-en- 
forcement comes to this army of plunderers from the indiffer- 
ence and culpable ignorance of the mass of our citizens. They 
are the natural guardians of the liberties which they enjoy, 
and if they dare to dispense with sentinels, or, worse still, if 
their sentinels slumber on duty, what can they expect but 
that the citadel will be taken and sacked, and liberty lost? 

Here we have the three elements of the opposition. 
The aggressive wickedness of the vicious and the criminal; 
the conspiracy and piracy of the rich and influential, and the 
ignorance and indifference of the rank and file of citizens. 
Now, when we come to take account of results accomplished, 
it is something to know that as work is always for the worker, 
the efforts put forth by men like Mr. Folk and his colleagues, 
supported by substantial business men of the city and State, 
have by the law of reflex action developed these men. They 
have been in this warfare "men in the making;" and as the 
war of the revolution developed a high type of citizen soldiery, 
so the war against civic corruption has developed among us a 
high type of citizenship. Every reporter, every editor, every 
preacher, every person, no matter who nor where, who has 
borne a part in this splendid warfare, has been strengthened 
and trained thereby. 

BRIBERY MADE EXTRADITABLE. 

We have already referred to the awakening of public 
opin'on as one of the results gained in this great contest. But 
specffically. what are some of the direct gains? In the first 
place this warfare has led to the enactment of international 
laws making bribery an extraditable offense, and thereby 



MISSOURI'S BATTLE WITH THE BOODLERS. 61 

hangs a most interesting- tale of three cities, — St. Louis, Wash- 
ington and Mexico. 

When John K. Mnrrell tied for refuge to Mexico, it was 
with the expHcit understanding and solemn agreement between 
him and the rogues who could be safe only in his absence and 
silence, that he should be plentifully supplied with funds and 
that his family should not want. Murrell is a man, with a 
man's affections, sympathies, hopes and fears. He went, in 
order thereby to secure the immunity of his confreres in crime, 
feeling that he could depend upon the pledged honor of these 
gentlemen. And for a time the promise was kept, and the 
money forthcoming. Not only so, but after he had been gone 
sot7)e time, a special messenger was sent to cheer him up in his 
lonely exile. 

However, it was not long until the rogues decided to 
desert him and began to neglect his family. Mrs. Murrell, his 
innocent and helpless wife, was left to suffer and was finally 
compelled to secure transportation and join her husband under 
a foreign flag. It is sometimes said ''there is honor among 
thieves," but among these thieves there was evidently not a 
vestige of honor, nor the shadow of a shade of moral principle. 

But it was not long until the Circuit Attorney pushed his 
investigations into the real status of the laws between the 
United States and Mexico, concerning the extradition of crim-* 
inais. To make a long story short, after having communicated 
with W^ashington, D. C, Mr. Folk went to that city to confer 
with the President and the Secretary of State, and a new treaty 
was enacted, worded in such fashion that it became at once 
possible on the ground of international courtesy to have these 
fugitives extradited. This must be considered a capital 
achievement. Henceforth there can be no harbor of refuge 
in the Republic of Mexico for the man who has given or 
accepted a bribe. In the notorious Alum legislation at Jeffer- 
son City, an active agent for the Royal Baking Powder Com- 
pany was a Mr. Daniel J. Kelly. When thousand dollar bills 
began to circulate numerously in that small city, and one inci- 
dent following swiftly upon another led to the discovery of 
•egislative debauchery at the capital city of the State, Mr. 
Kelly found that his failing health demanded a trip abroad 



62 POLITICAL THUGGERY. 

and tied from New York to Canada. There again a criminal 
found refuge, because bribery was not an extraditable offense ; 
and for a similar reason Ellis Wainwright, the millionaire 
brewer, still resides unmolested abroad. We feel that as a part 
of the rich harvest already gathered, we are justified in claim- 
ing the law referred to as one of the chief gains, with a pros- 
pect of similar legislation and treaties with other nations. 
These are results that bear immediately upon the situation, 
and also serve to tone up public sentiment throughout the 
entire world and promote the efficient organization of the 
machinery of justice. 

NINETEEN CONVICTIONS. 

A public prosecutor who secured one conviction after 
another until nineteen men had been convicted in the courts, of 
crimes relating directly or indirectly to bribery, might well 
be proud. It has been said occasionally, in weak criticism, 
that 'Mr. Folk is not a great lawyer. Nineteen convictions, 
with public opinion at the outset slumbering, w4th the tre- 
mendous and overawing forces already referred to actively 
opposing ; nineteen convictions won against the ablest criminal 
lawyers money could hire, nineteen convictions under such 
circumstances are little short of marvelous. Again and again 
juries of their peers declared that these men were guilty ; 
declared by their verdicts, under the careful instruction of the 
courts, presided over by men learned in jurisprudence, that 
they were worthy of stripes ; and with every conviction the 
heart of the commonwealth rejoiced. At last justice was 
avenged. 

It is passing strange that with such a showing of facts, 
ind with such continuous convictions of defiant roguery, not a 
sentence should, at this writing (]March, 1904) have been 
executed. The rogues invoked the proverbial law's delays ; 
appeals were taken ; all sorts of dilatory tactics were resorted 
to ; and in a final emergency the army of pirates guarded the 
penitentiary door with that last champion of convicted knaves — 
"Technicalities." But even this humiliating exhibition, either 
of defective statutes or defective jurisprudence, has not been 
without its recompense. It has served notice upon the State 



64 POLITICAL THUGGERY. 

of Missouri of the extent to which these corrupt influences 
are intrenched, and it has started a movement for the enact- 
ment of law which will be absolutely incapable of any inter- 
pretation favorable to proved crime. Yet still, as evermore, 
"eternal vigilance is the price of liberty." The State is, at 
this writing, beginning to answer in unmistakable terms the 
rogues and parasites who have fattened upon her substance. 
The question still is a question for the plain citizen : What 
are YOU going to do about it? 

The results indicated in this brief summary are not final — 
the war is still on. Lies and innuendoes are being manufac- 
tured and circulated industriously. The arch fiends of bribery 
are still free. Money is being poured out like water, and the 
results most desirable are yet to be recorded. The final cliap- 
ter in this history must be written by an aroused and indig- 
nant citizenship in their action this year and in the years to 
come, at the polls ! 

Many who have worked and waited in the years that are 
gone are hopeful that now at last redemption draws near. 

"'Tis weary watching, wave by wave, 

And yet the tide heaves onward ; 
We build like corals, grave by grave. 

Yet pave a path that's sunward. 

We're beaten back in many a fray, 

Yet newer strength we'll borrow ; 
And where the vanguard rests today 

The rear will camp tomorrow." 



Chapter V. 
THE MAILED FIST. 



The grand jury is of the opinion that policemen, stationed 
about the polls at the recent primary, refused protection to voters 
''not because they were not good policemen individually, but be- 
cause they zvere dominated by the political machine." 

It might have been added that these zvorthy policemen zvere 
not unmindful that three members of the Police Commissioners 
zvere candidates at the primary election. 

Is it likely that policemen zvere allozved to forget that im- 
portant fact? Is it likely that ihey could so far rise above the 
ordinary promptings of human nature as to be impartially care- 
ful and careless of the interests of the men to zvhom they looked 
for bread and butter, to say nothing of preferment and promo- 
tion? They may not have been conscious of such considerations, 
but it is not possible to believe they zvere not someJwzv influenced 
by them. — Post-Dispatch. 

''The easy-going, good-natured public official, zvho deliber- 
ately closes his eyes to minor infraction of municipal laz.v zvhich 
it is his duty to restrain, is one of the most hurtful factors in our 
municipal life. We may be thankful that a grozving public senti- 
ment is more and more insisting on a strict enforcement of all 
lazvs, municipal as zvell as State and national. And zve may also 
be thankful for the bright examples zvhich are furnished by many 
in every station, from the lozvest to the highest, of rigorous insist- 
ence on obedience to lazv, examples zvhose healthful contagion zjuill 
speak through the country from ocean to ocean and from the lakes 
to the Gulf. No matter zvhat you may think of them in other re- 
spects, zvhat lazv-abiding American is not proud of the fact that 
zve have — not to mention others — tzvo such magnificent examples 
as Joseph W. Folk and Theodore Roosevelt?" — Justice David J. 
Brewer of the United States Supreme Court. 



CHAPTER V. 



THE MAILED FIST. 



NATIONAL NOT LOCAL THE PLUGGED PRIMARY INVASION OF 

THUGS — A SLUM OVERFLOW TRIUMPHANT ANARCHY — IN 

KANSAS CITY POLITICAL HESSIANS OUTRAGEOUS AND AP- 
PALLING CRIMINAL CONNIVANCE WECO PAID THE BILLS. 



The conditions described in this book are not confined 
to the State of Missouri and its great cities. As we have stated 
before they are general. 

NATIONAL NOT LOCAL. 

New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Minneapolis, Denver, San 
Francisco — indeed, one may take the list of our American cities 
and call the roll in alphabetical order and find that practically the 
same conditions obtain in all. Therefore, this discussion will hold 
the attention and challenge the interest of all people who are in any 
measure concerned with public affairs. 

It would be difficult to say how long the methods called 
appropriately, "political thuggery," have been in vogue in St. 
Louis. Election after election has been notorious for fraud 
and force. Deeds of violence and daring outrages against the 
purity of the ballot have been common ; but, in St. Louis, as 
in most other cities, there have been sections comparatively 
free from force and fraud. In this city what is known as the 
West End represents such a section. This is one of the choice 
resident districts of the city and is perhaps more American in 
population than any other portion. Here are to be found the 
palatial home of the millionaire, as well as the modest cottage of 
the man of moderate circumstances. Its avenues and streets 
are lined with shade trees ; wide areas have building restric- 
tions, making it impossible to erect anything but a residence, 
and that of a certain character ; the houses stand back from 
the thoroughfare, leaving room for well kept lawns with shrub- 
bery and serpentine walks. 



68 



POLITICAL THUGGERY. 



Certainly one would not select the 28th ward of St. Louis, 
for example, as a ward where either Democrat or Republican 
could be found who would commit deeds of violence at an elec- 
tion. And yet on the 12th day of ]\Iarch, 1904, at a Democratic 

THE PLUGGED PRIMARY. 

party primary, respectable and prominent citizens were held 
in line at the polling places by the hour, while ruffians, im- 
ported from the lowest dives of the city, were crowded in 
ahead of them and permitted to vote under names which had 
been, by culpable negligence or wilful criminality, placed on 
the registration books for that purpose. 

Indeed, the citizens whose homes are in this section were 
fortunate if they escaped w^ith merely being held in line until 
too late to vote or until duty called them elsewhere, for 
many w^ere assaulted with brass knucks and chased away from 
the polling place. The illustration, 
"Thuggery in the Twenty-Eighth 
Ward of St. Louis," represents an 
actual occurrence. A young man, 
Thos. M. Harding, engaged for 
vears in business in St. Louis, a 
quiet, inoffensive citizen, was 
pulled out of line by "plug-uglies,'" 
knocked down, kicked, and, when 
he finally attempted to escape, was 
chased across the street by these 
imported curs. In describing the 
incident, ^Ir. Harding said, "The 

first thing I knew% my coat was ••Being Held in l^lne." 

seized and I was pulled out of line by someone who stood behind 
me — a burly fellow^ just outside the line. Then someone hit me 
and knocked me against another man, who also struck me, and as 
I fell to the ground I was kicked ; my hat was crushed, and on ex- 
amining it afterwards, one hole was found which seemed to have 
been made bv a knife or some sharp instrument. Dazed as I was, 
I struggled to my feet and started to run across the street, with 
the whole pack after me. Finally, Mr. L., or his brother, who 
seemed to kno\v the fellows that struck me, called out to them 




MISSOURI'S BATTLE WITH THE BOODLERS. GU 

'Never mind, boys, he is all right,' and like a pack of curs 
that had ben sicked on, they obeyed the master that now 
called them off. I went to a gentleman who seemed to know 
Mr. L. and some of the rest, and said to him 'You are a 
friend of these fellows apparently, and I wish you would be 
kind enough to accompany me away from the place'." 

INVASION OF THUGS. 

This assault, like that upon the aged Judge Shultz, was 
absolutely unprovoked. It was thuggery pure and simple. 
This was the polling place at which Rev. Dr. R. A. Holland 
voted, and which he described at length in a signed communi- 
cation which appeared in the Globe-Democrat on the follow- 
ing Wednesday. We have space here for a few extracts from 
this interesting and valuable document : — 

'Tt was near 3 o'clock when I went to the polls at Taylor 
and Delmar avenues. I saw about fifty men in line. The fore- 
most part of the line had an ugly look, there were some gentle- 
men in the rear. I took my place behind Rabbi Messing. We 
waited — I can not tell exactly how long — without any per- 
ceptible advance. Dr. Messing began to lose hope of reaching 
the ballot box, and said he had engagements^ that would take 
him away. I begged him to remain as a duty above all ordi- 
nary engagements. While we were talking a red-nosed rowd3% 
standing just outside the column, accosted the doctor with 
impudent familiarity. 

" 'It's no use to wait,' he said. 'Your vote won't count. 
I've got lots o' fellows across the street, and we are going to 
down you. We are Republicans, we are, but we are going to 
down you.' I asked him where his Republicans were. He 
answered : 'All around here in these houses, waiting until I 
call 'em.' The doctor observed sotto voce that 'there Avas 
truth in wine,' for the red-nosed rowdy had liquor enough aboard 
to make him slop over with recklesslv confidential brag. 

"He persisted for some time in his effort to coax or bluff 
the doctor out of line, and then left to greet with liquorish 
affection the policeman three yards away, who did duty with his 
back turned to the incident. They seemed to be old play- 
mates. 



70 POLITICAL THUGGERY. 

"Dr. Messing grew tired and left without voting. I stayed, 
and interested myself with a study of the scene. No attention 
was paid to the hundred-foot rule. A gang of young ruffians 
held the sidewalk. Most of them showed signs of drink. They 
were evidently organized for their work, and under a head. This 
head had as devilish looking a face as I ever saw. I should hate 
to meet it at midnight alone. His business seemed to be to watch 
the line, and estimate the character of the vote by the appearance 
of the voters. This he did with furtive, but frequent, glances, and 
the glances grew angrier as the column lengthened. His confer- 
ences with his minions were in undertone, and they shared his 
temper. They came and went away anywhere along the line and 
in and out the polling place as they pleased. 

A SLUM OVERFLOW. 

"It was a ruffian crew, for while some of them were not 
greasy tramps or roustabouts, and might have been official 
underlings, the general air was one of whiskified insolence and 
swagger and scowl. They were there for mischief. They ruled 
the sidewalk. When they were not going in and out of the 
column, or in and out of the polling room, they stood together 
in front of the polling-room door. 

"Their appearance was a menace and intimidation to every 
well-clad voter who was not personally known to be for their 
candidate. Their candidate saw them, knew them — knew 
what they were there for, knew that they had no right to be 
there, and yet spoke no word of disapproval. His delight daz- 
zled their eyes. And as soon as he left their activity grew 
bolder and more busy. 

'T do not think they were repeaters, so much as liners, their 
business being to hold the line and delay voting as long as 
they could in this way, and later on to shove or slug voters out 
of places, which they would themselves occupy until reaching 
the door, and then leave to return for new shoves and slug- 
gings. They had the liberty of the line while I was present. 
It was only the break caused by the appearance of their chief 
that enabled me to vote when I did. Their chief gone, they 
held a brief sidewalk jollification, then tapped the saloon and 
came back to the column. 



MISSOURI'S BATTLE WITH. THE BOODLERS. 71 

"I knew when I left that there was to be bloody work at dark, 
iJ not before, and told my apprehension to my family and 
friends. It was the first time I had ever voted at a primary 
election, and never did my American citizenship, my very 
manhood, seem so cheap and dirty a bit of refuse. And that 
is all the manhood of any citizen of St. Louis amounts to if he 
tolerates any longer this bullyism. It is your cowardice, fel- 
low-citizens, that the hoodlums bank upon in their bold, 
shameless overriding of your rights. 

*'And many of you are Southern men. Your fathers fought 
four years for grievances infinitely less and against the shadow 
rather than the reality of an oppression that had not as yet 
laid violent^ hands upon one of them. Are you going to waste 
time in talk about legal redress? Where is the hope of it? 
Where is the law? The ruffians hold all the seats of govern- 
ment, and control the courts, and make law as they go, to 
rescue their miscreants and reward their captains in crime. 
There is no anarchy so dreadful as anarchy under the forms 
of law. 

TRIUMPHANT ANARCHY. 

"The man who shot one President was not half so much an 
anarchist as the man who has organized all the thieves, thugs, 
gamblers, pimps and saloon keepers of your city into a mafia 
of crime to abet his ambition. 

*'Yoii are not men, but a breed of cowards, unworthy of the 
liberty of your claim, if you let another election day pass 
without such a military organization as shall redden the 
streets of your city with the sacrificial blood of its bravest and 
best rather than yield supinely to this reign of low-bred rascality 
that riots under sanction of law. 

"It is not a question of whether you will resort to lynch law. 
The lynch law already exists. The question is how long shall 
it last, and while it lasts, who shall be the lynchers? Some of 
your worthiest citizens have already been lynched for attempt- 
ing to discharge their duty as citizens, and no thanks are due 
to the lynchers that these quiet, law-abiding gentlemen escaped 
with their lives. 



72 



POLITICAL THUGGERY. 



"The next riot will be more murderous. It will come at a 
general and presidential election. It will beat you from the 
polls by brass knucks and poUcemen's bludgeons. It will 
terrify your judges of election. It will awe the timid and 
infirm and aged, however estimable, from the ballot which is 
their badge of citizenship. It will shoot down like so many 
mad dogs those who can not be otherwise beaten or awed. 

''Will you wait till then and afterward fill the air with your 
craven complainings, while the courts stand ready to quash 
or acquit, or do whatever they are bidden in support of the 
villainy, and the Governor refers the trial of the villains to 
commissions of candidates in whose behalf their outrages are 
committed? How long, brother citizens, whether Democrats 
or Republicans, will you wear the brand of "shamelessness" 
that has now become one of infamy? 

"Until you purge it away with costlier purification than 
idle protests, there it will stand over your city's once saintly 
name, as its proper legend, in the eyes of free America, "St. 
Louis the Infamous." 

Although it was generally agreed in St. Louis that the 
scenes enacted in the twenty-eighth ward were the most disgraceful 

in the annals of .the city, yet 
the machine newspapers published 
broadcast the statement that it was 
one of the quietest elections ever 
held, with no disturbances except 
in two polling places in one ward ! 
Fortunately, the machine organs 
were few in number and con- 
temptible in character. The great 
dailies, without exception, pub- 
lished the facts, some of which 
are as follows : 

W. R. Hall, of 4633 Maryland 
Avenue, was slugged with brass 
knuckles while standing in line, 
waiting his turn to vote. J. W. 
Fristoe, President of the T. J. 




'Slug-ged With Brass Knuckles.' 



MISSOURI'S BATTLE WITH THE BOOULERS. 73 

Moss Tie Company, residing at 4362 McPherson Avenue, was one 
of many who tried hard but in vain to get into the polHng place. 
He arrived there about 5 :30 in the afternoon and stayed until he 
thought he was in imminent danger of being slugged. Mr. J. T. 
Wallace, of 4366 McPherson Avenue, and Capt. J. J. Corkery, of 
4330 McPherson Avenue, were in the same predicament. All 
three were compelled to leave the polls without votmg. In 
relating his experience with the Indians Mr. Fristoe said, "I 
am in favor of holding an indignation meeting to show the 
party leaders that we will not tolerate such proceedings in our 
midst. They were disgraceful, and to think they should hap- 
pen in one of the best districts of our town, too. The assaults 
that were made in our district Saturday were innumerable. I 
saw a man knocked senseless and left lying on the pavement. 
Not a soul went to help him for quite awhile. Finally, he was 
hauled back into the alley. I have been a Democrat all my 
life, but I will vote for the meanest Republican that can be 
placed upon the ticket before I will vote for a machine candi- 
date." 

Mr. Hall also was slugged with brass knuckles and was 
laid up at home and confined to his room, as a result of the 
attack. After standing in line for an hour on Saturday after- 
noon, he was suddenly pushed out. As he fell forward, he was 
caught by the arm and thrown into the gutter. A moment 
later he was struck on the left ear. In another moment the 
crowd of ruffians were lipon him, as he lay prostrate on the 
ground. He said, 'T shall take my case to the grand jury. The 
assault upon me was entirely unprovoked and unwarranted. 
My complaint will be against the police. They saw me 
assaulted and beaten and refused to help me. I picked out the 
man who struck me, but the officers refused to arrest him, even 
after I went up to the fellow and laid my hand upon him. 
The policemen I appealed to I can identify at any time. I saw 
one of them this afternoon. He walks my beat. I never 
wished for a weapon to defend myself before in my life. If I 
had been armed there might be a different story to tell." 

J. D. Perry Francis and David R. Francis, Jr., sons of 
Governor Francis, President of the Louisiana Purchase Expo- 
sition, also suffered an attack from a dozen or more of the 



74 POLITICAL THUGGERY. 

ruffians. Mr. Perry Francis stated that he arrived at the poll- 
ing place shortly after 6 o'clock. "I took my place in line 
behind my brother, David R. Francis, Jr. He told me that a 
number of men had been pulled out of Ime and cautioned me 
to be on my guard. 1 was not expecting an attack, but soon 
after taking my place, my attention was attracted by a scuf- 
fle behind me and, upon looking toward the polling place 
again I found that my brother had disappeared. He tells me 
that a man caught him by the lapel of the coat and pushed him 
out of line, when he was immediately jumped upon by about 
ten more Indians, and when I saw him he was defending him- 
self as best he could. I immediately left the line and hurried 
to his assistance. I shoved several men away and hit two or 
three, when I was jumped upon by five or six of the gang. 
After this unequal contest, which lasted a few minutes, we 
managed to get back in line and cast our votes. I have no 
doubt that these Indians were hired to intimidate and prevent 
the Folk men from voting. My brother and I were both for 
Hawes, and if we had so informed the police and the hoodlums 
who attacked us, they would, no doubt, have permitted us to 
peacefully cast our votes. We did not think it necessary, how- 
ever, to inform either the police or the bystanders how we 
proposed to vote. There seemed to be at least half a dozen 
policemen at the polls, and while I was standing in line there 
were innumerable fights, in which I had no part. None of 
the policemen made any effort whatsoever to preserve the 
peace. We did get into the polling place and did cast our votes 
for Mr. Hawes, but if Mr. Hawes sanctions such practices he 
is not worthy to be Governor, and I certainly will not support 
him." 

W. K. Kavanaugh, President of the Interstate Car Trans- 
fer Company, residing at 4635 Maryland Avenue, was another 
of the inoffensive witnesses who experienced much difficulty 
in voting. After Avaiting for two hours and fifteen minutes, 
he was at last allowed to cast his ballot. That he was not 
treated to a severe drubbing he attributes to the fact that he 
was acquainted with several of the "boys," who passed word 
at intervals that he was all right. He described what he saw 
as the most dastardly behavior he had ever witnessed. "Three 



MISSOURI'S BATTLE WITH THE BOODLERS. 



70 



times I was within hailing distance of the voting booth, when 
the Indians would make a rush, break the line, and all would 
have to seek new places. The whole plan of action seemed 
to be to delay the honest voters. It seemed as if it were con- 
ceded that there were enough of the right sort of votes cast, 
and the only object in view was to see that none of the Folk 
voters got a chance. Expressions of disgust at the doings of 
thugs was taken as a sure sign that the person was against 
them, and he was immediately slated for removal from the 
line. Finally, I got into the polling place. I was shoved in 
with two men whose actions prior thereto left no doubt that 
they were Indians. A few moments later they were ordered 
out. A judge said that one had been inside three times and 
the other four times. They raised an argument, which stopped 
the ballot-casting for some time. Everytliing was being done 
to waste time and keep down the vote. 1 stood in line with 
Mr. S. Bent Russell. I guess we witnessed a dozen assaults 
upon unoffending citizens. In every instance the police 
refused to notice anything that was going on. 

"A party of about thirty toughs was doing all the mischief. 
They would make rushes on the line of voters, after the style 
of college football players. Once the whole line of voters was 
sent sprawling by these thugs, 
and when the line was formed 
again the attacking party held 
all the choice positions. These 
positions were always traded to 
persons who were said to be 'all 
right.' Several times when men 
were shoved in the line in front 
of me, I called the attention of 
the police. 'Oh, that's all right, 
Mr, Kavanaugh, but I didn't see 
it.' I told him that I had seen 
it, and I called upon several men 
to prove it, but he laughed, and 
that is all the satisfaction that 
could be gotten. 

"I saw John C. Roberts (of Roberts, Johnson & Rand Shoe 
Company) assaulted, and I am very much surprised to hear 




'Holding Clioice rositioiis." 



76 POLITICAL THUGGERY. 

that he was not badly hurt. Dozens, it seemed, were trying to 
hit him at once. They swarmed around him like bees and 
pushed him off toward the alley, away from the police, who 
invariably turned their backs when trouble was brewing. 

"I saw a young man struck in the face. He retaliated, and 
was set upon by ten or twelve men. He ran and was followed. 
They caught him ; knocked him down and began kicking him. 
Residents in the vicinity raised windows and cried out to the 
man's assailants to desist. It was terrible." 

Dr. Bruce Carson, of 4379 Westminister Place, stood at 
the polls several hours and then returned home disgusted. 
'T got in line," he said, "at 5 o'clock. I noticed several friends 
ahead. When I got near the door I saw several pulled out of 
line and many rushed into their places. I then held a position 
behind several Indians. Twice I was pushed from my feet, 
and each time I found myself getting further back in the line. 
A big fellow, who seemed to know the police, was conducting 
things. I heard him giving orders to several persons who 
seemed to be his lieutenants. 'Hold the line' he said several 
times. The policeman heard him, but paid no attention. I 
remained until almost 8 o'clock, when I concluded that it was 
useless to try to vote, and returned home. During the time I 
stood in that line, I saw many assaults upon inoffensive people. 
I saw a leaden-shot 'billy' flourished in the air, and saw a man 
trying his best to use it upon another person." 

Still others, who are widely known as men of the highest 
standing and integrity, expressed their disapproval of the 
treatment at the polls ; among them were Houston T. Force, 
first Alce-President of the Boogher, Force & Goodbar Hat 
Company ; Edward Cunningham, attorney ; and Edward Shaw, 
of the Brown Shoe Company. 

Mr. John C. Roberts, who is mentioned in the foregoing, 
and who was one of the local Folk Committee, gave out the follow- 
ing signed statement : 

"The priniary election held here Saturday would be a 
disgrace to any civilized community. Crooks, thugs and 
thieves ran riot and terrorized decent citizens. Butler-Hawes 
'Indians' went about in bands from polling place to polling 
place, repeating and voting for Hawes and slugging Folk 



MISSOURI'S BATTLE WITH THE BOODLERS. 77 

voters. I was at the polling place of the Twenty-eighth Ward, 
located at Taylor and Delmar avenues, from the time when 
the polls opened until 7 p. m., and was repeatedly assailed and 
threatened by the ruffians, and finally, upon the advice of friends 
on the other side, who said that I would be killed if I remained, 
1 went away. 

'Tt was almost as much as a man's life was worth to try 
to vote for Folk. The legal voters of the ward were with us 
three to one, but they did not have a chance to vote. The 
Butler-Hawes 'Indians' stood in line all day and kept Folk 
voters from getting into the polling place. When one of their 
friends came they would make way for him and let him get 
into the polling place. 

''Once, when Folk voters became too numerous, I saw 
these Butler-Hawes 'Indians' knock down an inoffensive old 
gray-haired man who had been standing patiently in line for 
hours. They beat him in the most brutal manner. They 
then returned and slugged one after another, first jerking 
them out of the line and then beating them in order to terrorize 
the legal voters. In this they succeeded, as a respectable citi- 
zen does not like to be beaten up. All could see that the police 
were affording no protection to the citizens of the ward. 

"This rioting kept up during the time I was there, and I am 
told it grew worse later. I cannot believe that Democratic 
voters can have any conception of the high-handed, brutal 
methods of the gangs employed in the primary Saturday. The 
Butler gang voted for Hawes all over, and I witnessed them 
myself in my own precinct. They would vote, then exchange 
coats and hats and vote again. 

"Once, when one of our judges challenged a repeater, the 
repeater defied the judge to have him arrested, saying he had 
done nothing until he had voted, and he then intimidated them 
into accepting his vote. 

"The Democracy of St. Louis is in control of one of the 
most desperately lawless and shameless gangs that ever 
infested any city. It is very evident that Butler thugs and 
Hawes Tndians' do not approve of Folk's prosecution of elec- 
tion frauds and boodlers. They have declared that boodle is 
not an issue. 



78 POLITICAL THUGGERY. 

"I was a member of the Democratic State Committee, was 
president of the Jefferson Club in 1897, have always supported 
the regular Democratic ticket, and am vice president of the 
Roberts, Johnson & Rand Shoe Company. I am responsible, 
and I declare that no decent Democrat should tolerate the things 
that went on yesterday. I saw that the so-called primary was a 
farce, carried on by fraud, brutality and ruffianism." 

IN KANSAS CITY. 

Kansas City, the Western metropolis, suffered a similar 
reign of terror. Mr. A. E. Norton, a real estate agent, was 
assaulted three times during the day and the last attack was 
most serious. He remained unconscious from his injuries for 
ten days. His head was broken and his shoulder shattered, 
and simply because he shouted for Shelley, the anti-machine 
candidate. No effort was made at all by the police who wit- 
nessed the attack to apprehend his assailants. 

Karl W. Hinman, a young fellow about 24 years of age, 
with no trace or lineament of a repeater was nevertheless 
thrown into jail and confined for twenty-four hours. He was 
denied anything to eat while a prisoner, except at his own 
expense, and discharged from custody upon a simple statement 
by him to a justice of the peace. No effort whatever was 
made to substantiate the claim that he was arrested for illegal 
voting; no steps taken to justify the inhuman treatment shown 
him or to justify his arrest. While he stood in line, on the day 
of the Democratic primary, he was asked by Patrick Sheehan, 
candidate for alderman, for whom he intended to vote. This 
information Avas given, and by Sheehan repeated to Jack 
McGraAv, a guard at the workhouse. McGraw then approached 
Hinman and told him that if he voted for Shelley he would 
be "pinched." The young fellow pluckily declared that he 
would vote for Shelly ''pinch or no pinch," and did so vote. 
William Clark, a police officer, placed him under arrest. The 
money he had on his person at the time was taken from him 
and when he asked for food, giving an order for the meal, to 
be paid for from his own funds, the order was refused unless he 
would sign it J. W. Inman, instead of K. W. Hinman, his own 
name. 



MISSOURI'S BATTLE Wmi THE BOODLERS. 79 

Mr. Hinman is vouched for by men who are as responsible 
as the creator of the police commission or the election com- 
mission, who sits in his office in Jefferson City and declares 
such outrages to be funny to a farcical degree. Mr. Hinman 
has brought suit for $10,000 damages against the police officer 
making the arrest, and also for a like sum against the police 
commissioners. 

At Fifteenth and Brooklyn, a quiet and respectable neigh- 
borhood, where police officers are so seldom seen that many 
of the children do not know what they look like, they were 
present in force on the day of the primaries. Prominent pro- 
fessional and business men, patiently waiting in line, were 
pushed about by the police to make room for two divekeepers 
in a negro neighborhood, the officers saying that these men must 
b*". given a chance to vote, so that they could return to their 
business. 

In Kansas City, as well as in St. Louis, the padded regis- 
tration was a leading feature of this brutal election. One man 
who registered there gave his address as 2100 Garfield Avenue. 
It was found that there was no such number, but where 2100 
Garfield Avenue would be, is the centre of a pond. This is 
only one incident of many. These cases can not fully portray 
the actual conditions. A searching and thorough exposure 
would show yet deeper infamy. Is it any wonder that the 
cities of Missouri are beginning to sicken and tire of machine 
rule? And be it remembered that the thousands of policemens* 
clubs which are swung at every election to beat back respecta- 
ble citizens, to terrorize and intimidate legal voters, and pro- 
tect bums and thugs in raiding the ballot, are not in reality 
held by these blue-coated officers, but by the machine poli- 
ticians who, in their turn, are the cat's paws of corrupt cor- 
poration magnates. ■ 

POLITICAL HESSIANS. 

And now what was the meaning of this slum overflow? It 
was more than a slum overflow. It was an army recruited in 
the slums; hired, rumor says, at $5.00 apiece, marshalled by 
saloon bums and ward heelers, led in groups of ten to forty 
from one polling place to another and voted against law and 
order. A gentleman who saw some of the 'Tndians" in line 



80 POLITICAL THUGGERY. 



1 



at the polling places recognized a number whom he had in 
his capacity as a lawyer tried and convicted of crime. Some 
of them he recognized as former inmates of the penitentiary. 

Men who never resided in the ward where they were vot- 
ing, nor in any contiguous territory, were lined up. It was 
an invasion of thugs ; it was floating the black flag before the 
best people of St. Louis; it was an assauh upon the integrity 
of the city; it was a threat to the peace and purity of the city's 
homes. We can but wish that the officers of Missouri, not only 
the peace officers, but the office-holders who are called Demo- 
crats, and some who are called Republicans, could show a 
cleaner bill of health with reference to the whole infamous 
transaction. Appearances are very much against them. 

The assault as described was undoubtedly premeditated 
and carried out by the parties chiefly in interest, namely, the 
machine politicians. They began with their rulings concern- 
ing registration ; they made demands of busy citizens which 
were, to say the least, very difficult to comply with ; the regis- 
tration books were padded; slips of paper were furnished to 
the "Indians" with the names under which they were to vote 
plainly written upon them. In one instance, when the Indian 
had lost his slip, or was too drunk to read it, a friendly judge 
suggested that it was "So-and-So;" the Indian took the tip, said 
"Yes, that's it," and voted accordingly. 

As a matter of course, these fellows are not Democrats, 
neither are they Republicans ; they are either or both by turns, 
but whether working for one party or the other, they are by 
hereditary possession, by instinct and training, criminals ! 

OUTRAGEOUS AND APPALLING. 

It would have been sufficiently infamous and daring if 
they had been content to vote illegally in these wards, but 
they did not stop with voting, nor yet with crowding into the 
line under the very eyes of the police and keeping citizens, 
resident in the ward, from their rights. True to their instincts 
and the bidding of their masters, they made cowardly and 
brutal assaults upon peaceful, law-abiding citizens. They did, 
in other words, what in a rural community or in some of the 
large towns of the West would have resulted in the immediate 



MISSOURI'S BATTLE WITH TiiE BOODLERS. 81 

organization of a vigilance committee and in the lynching ot 
the perpetrators of these deeds of darkness. When the stories 
came out, indeed, before the public press had furnished the 
appalling narrative; as soon as the word passed from mouth 
to mouth through the West End, among those who had seen with 
their own eyes, if they had not felt in their own bodies, the terrific 
outrages, the city was profoundly stirred. 

■ CRIMINAL CONNIVANCE. 

It may be asked innocently : Where, during all this, were 
the policemen? And there lies a still darker shadow of polit- 
ical turpitude. They were ignoring, conniving at or co-operat- 
ing with these thugs and ruffians. No one for a moment 
believes that the blue-coated municipal police did this of their 
own motion. The word must have been passed down the 
line; the understanding must have been given that this was to 
be their attitude ; such an understanding could not emanate from 
any other source than from the police commissioners themselves, 
who are the personal representatives of the Governor of the State. 

The poor craven policemen are entitled to our sympathy — 
at least we can feel for them only pity and contempt. But, Mis- 
sourians, what must be your feelings toward the men who rep- 
resent you in office in the State? The feelings of some of the 
most reputable citizens of the -community are indicated in the 
extracts from the published letters and addresses which were 
called forth by this appalling demonstration of brute force on 
the I2th day of March, 1904, and which must ever be memorable 
in the annals of St. Louis. 

WHO PAID THE BILLS? 

Another important question arises: Who paid the bills? 
These men are political Hessians. Some of them we can imagine 
would commit crime and lend themselves to deeds of violence 
from the pure love of wickedness, but the majority of them must 
have been hired. To be sure they were paid with abundant drinks 
of St. Louis brewed beer and forty-rod whiskey, but there must 
have been some more valuable consideration. Who furnished the 
wherewithal? The papers asked the question, but up to date 
no one has risen to reply. 

6 



82 POLITICAL THUGGERY. 

What we have said in the preceding chapters as to the ele- 
ments constituting the opposition will be quite illuminating if 
read again in this connection. We are content to leave the issue 
with the people of Missouri and of America ; for, as we said at the 
outset in this chapter, these are not local conditions nor local 
issues. They afifect for weal or woe the entire nation and we 
would as well accept now the gauge of battle here- flung down, 
as to endeavor under the coward's flag of truce to make peace 
with our enemies and admit them to still further participation in 
the affairs of State. This fearful and shameful story of municipal 
corruption, of the perversion of law, of political thuggery and 
piracy, has been told and will be told again and aga^n. American 
citizens are patient and long-suffering, and much more inclined to 
suffer the ills they have than to arise and by sustained antagonism 
and the adoption of that aggressive attitude which is, to say the 
least, disagreeable to most men, right existing wrong; but when 
finally they are aroused, then let hirelings and thugs and pot- 
house politicians hunt their holes ! They, may well 'beware the 
wrath of a patient man.' 



Chapter VI. 
ANARCHY UNDER FORMS OF LAW. 



^ 



We have a risiht to deniand that the Mayor and those as- 



sociated zvith him in adiuiiiistering the affairs of this uiunici' 
pality should not put obstructions in the path of our ameliorating 
endeavors; and they do. There is not a for in under lifhich the 
devil disguises himself that so perplexes us in our efforts, or so 
bewilders us in t/ic dez'ising of our schemes, as the polluted 
harpies that, under tJie pretence of governing this city, are feed- 
ing day and night on its quivering vitals. They are a lying, 
perjured, rum-soaked and libidinous lot. If zi^e try to close np 
a house of prostitution or of assignation, zve, in the guilelessness 
of our innocent imaginations, might have supposed that the arm 
of t/ie city goz'cvnment that takes official cogni::ance of such mat- 
ters, Zi'ould like nothing so zvell as to zvatch daytimes and sit tip 
nights for the purpose of briiiging these dirty maief actors to their 
deserts. On the contrary, the arm of the city government that 
takes official cognizance of such matters evinces but a languid in- 
terest, shozcs no genius in ferreting out crime, prosecutes only 
Zi'heu it has to, and has a mind so keenly judicial that almost no 
amount of evidence that can be heaped up is acceptable as suffi- 
cient to zi'arrant indictment. — Dr. Chas. H. Parkhurst, in Our 
Fight zvith Tammany. 



CHAPTER VL 



ANARCHY UNDER FORMS OF LAW. 



THUGGERY THREE TO ONE MONSTROUS MATERIALISM PLUTO- 
CRACY THE TAINT SPREADS PERNICIOUS EXAMPLE — 

NAKED AND NOT ASHAMED IS THERE ANY RELIEF SOCIAL 

REGENERATION A SOP TO CERBERUS THE BOODLER's POWER 

DECAY OF REPUBLIjCAN INSTITUTIONS. 



In an extraordinary degree, the city of St. Louis was in the 
lime light. The fearless prosecutions by the Circuit Attorney, 
his unsparing exposures and tireless efforts to ferret out and 
arrest and convict the criminals, whether high or low, attracted 
national and international attention, and yet out of nineteen con- 
victed boodlers, not one has begun to serve his sentence. The 
very courts themselves seemed to be implicated in the prevalent 
political corruption. The vicious elements of society were in 
control ; no matter how many good men chanced to be associated 
with them as public officials, the criminals were sufficiently in the 
majority to carry things with a high hand. For a time they 
seemed to be cowed, but when the courts were heard from with 
systematic reversals, and the endless law's delays were experi- 
enced, their courage immediately revived, and they began their 
atrocities afresh with unparalleled boldness and audacity. They 
seemed to be surprised themselves at the extent to which the 
legally constituted State authorities co-operated with them, but 
"it is a long lane that never turns." The appalling violence and 
criminality at the primary election, served to arouse the vehement 
indignation of all classes without respect to party, save only those 
who were themselves criminal or in league with criminals. The 
very figures showing the results of this primary election indicated 
that the forces of evil had over-reached themselves. 



86 POLITICAL THUGGERY. 

Siich deeds of infamy have been perpetrated at the polls in 
St. Louis for lo ! these many years. The illegal voters, "Indians" 

THUGGERY. 

as they are called, constitute a party by themselves. They are 
called political thugs, and the name itself is most interesting and 
appropriate. It is from a Hindoo word which means literally a 
deceiver, a cheat. It is the name of a religious fraternity in In- 
dia, which in honor of the goddess Kali, is addicted to murder 
and chiefly lives upon the plunder obtained from its victims. In 
^he south of India they used to live under the protection of the 
native chieftains who, in consideration of a settled contribution, 
and probably also a share in the results of their crime, connived 
at their practices, which were generally concealed under the guise 
of an honest industry. They operated after this fashion : band- 
ing together in gangs of from ten to fifty, they assumed the ap- 
pearance of ordinary travelers, journeying on horseback with 
tents and all the comforts of rich merchants, but in a humbler 
fashion if they could not afliord such luxury. Each gang had its 
leader, its teacher, its entrappers, its stranglers and its grave dig- 
gers. On arriving at towns and villages, they pretended to meet by 
accident and to have no previous acquaintance with one another. 
Some of the gang then went to work to collect information. They 
found out when any persons of property were about to undertake 
a journey and endeavored to gain their confidence. They usually 
proposed, under the plea of safety or for the sake of society, to 
travel in their company, or else they followed them, waiting an 
opportunity for their murderous work. When the moment has 
arrived, they throw around the neck of the victim a rope or a 
cloth, which one of the gang holds at one end while the other end 
is seized by an accomplice ; and while the two thugs draw the 
noose tight and press the head of their victim forward, a third 
seizes him bv the leg, thus throwing him to the ground. Then 
the rope or cloth very easily strangles the life out. Travelers 
are sometimes thus murdered in the night. Three thugs are 

THREE TO ONE. 

generally required to murder one man, just as three or more 
votes go to one of our American thugs. Two at least are thought 
necessary. To strangle a man single-handed is a rare occurrence. 



MISSOURI'S BATTLE WITH THE BOODLERS. 87 

and a feat of this kind is esteemed by the fraternity a most hon- 
orable distinction, which ennobles the thug who has achieved it 
and even his family for many generations. After the murder 
is perpetrated, the body of the victim is generally mutilated, in 
order, it seems, to expedite its decomposition and thus to guard 
against discovery. For the same reason care is taken to bury the 
body where it is not likely to be found. The mode of dividing 
the plunder is probably various. According to one account, a 
part of it is used to defray the expenses of religious ceremonies 
and sometimes a part is devoted to the benefit of widows and 
families of deceased members of the gang. The remainder is 
generally divided as follows : To the leader two shares ; to the 
actual murderer and to the person who cut the dead body, each one 
share and a half, and to the remainder of the gang each one 
share. These poor heathens, like their St. Louis prototypes, 
imagine that their murderous work is approved by the higher 
powers. There is, however, this difference. The St. Louis thug 
knows that his work is approved by the political gods whom he 
faithfully serves. 

The similarities between these criminals and the "Indians" 
of St. Louis and other American cities are too marked to require 
pointing out, but is it not amazing that such similarities should 
be possible in a nominally Christian and civilized community? 
No one who has not seen with his own eyes the atrocities which 
have been committed at the polls during the last few years can 
form any adequate conception of their enormity. Neither can 
he understand the fearful threat which the successful practice 
of political thuggery conveys. In the first place virtue, life and 
property, all are jeopardized. Civic liberty is sacrificed. The 
most sacred office and the highest forms of law are usurped by 
anarchists. The entire body politic becomes permeated with cor- 
ruption and society perishes, root and branch. 

MONSTROUS MATERIALISM. 

Now what does it all mean ? Can it be that these facts indi- 
cate a general reversion to barbarism or are they but a pitifully 
humiliating incident in our progress to higher things ? These 
enormities are the natural result of our monstrous materialism. 
A prize fighter with his thick neck and thicker skull and muscular 




"^'^ THUGGERY IN INDIA. 



90 POLITICAL THUGGERY. 

body and vicious habits, is a magnificent animal, but as a man he 
is a monster. The physical is the only foundation for manhood. 
So it is in the development of human society. The material 
things which are produced and handled, and in which we so 
greatly rejoice, are only the foundation of society. Under the 
whip and spur of steam and electricity, the world has gone for- 
ward with Kangaroo leaps in material prosperity, until spiritu- 
ality has sunk into atrophy and morality has decayed. Just as 
no one believes for a moment or for any part of a moment that 
the municipal police connived with "Indians" at the election with- 
out understanding from some one high in authority that this was 
expected of them, so it is impossible to believe that the work was 
done even by corrupt and scheming politicians, whether in office 
or desiring office, without the friendly aid and co-operation of 
wealthy men somewhere. The question has been asked, who 

PLUTOCRACY. 

furnished the money to pay the repeaters ? Candidates for office, 
with possibly the single exception of the United States Senate, 
are not millionaires, but it was easily apparent in the campaign 
that the machine forces had unlimited funds at their command. 
It was likewise apparent that these funds were used not only for 
legitimate and necessary expenses, but for purposes of villainy 
and corruption. Now, it is also known, that nothing is ordinarily 
more sensitive and cautious than capital. Capital will never ven- 
ture, save only where the angel of promise leads theway. In 
other words, we understand full well that the money which is 
being used to save a corrupt and infamous polititcal machine, is 
the money of interested parties. Corporation n^gnates, even 
when they chance to be church members and Sunday-school Su- 
perintendents, are not one bit averse to contributing money to 
put into power weak and wicked men whom they can buy, of 
whom they can secure legislative or judicial favors. This fact 
St. Louis and the world knows just as well as if the high priest 
of boodlery had turned State's evidence and given the names and 
addresses of these men who have so infamously stultified them- 
selves. There can be no manner of doubt that if their names 
were made public, the city would stand appalled and aghast. In 
a word, political thuggery, as we have seen it in operation in our 



MISSOURI'S BATTLE Wnil THE BOODLERS. Ul 

own city, is but the mailed fist ue i'lutockacy ! The thousand 
poHcemen's clubs that were swung for the triumph of lawlessness 
at the polls, were not in reality held by these weak officers, but by 
millionaires in our State and nation. 

Now there is in all this a fearful peril — even to the anarchists 
who walk in patent leather over moquette carpets and sit at ma- 
hogany desks. They are teaching and training a horde of sav- 
ages to know their strength, and the time may come when these 
savage underlings will throw themselves upon their rich friends 
and protectors. This is not indiscriminate. We are not de- 
claring that all millionaires are particeps criminis, but if any are, 
let them take warning. If any dare to protest, must we not con- 
clude that it is the "hurt dog that howls ?" And then still further, 
this is not the reign of the rich even -by means of political things. 
It is the reign of riches, and for it not only the obese tyrants them- 
selves are responsible, but all who share the materialistic and 
covetous spirit of the age. For the greed that fattens on the 
under-paid toil of women and little children, that floats its costly 
wares on deep seas of human suffering, is not a passion in indi- 
vidual hearts, but a passion which pervades society from top to 
bottom, and from which very few are exempt. Nearly everything 
we touch is stenchful. Nearly every dollar we handle is stained 
with blood. Most of the sources of production are wrongly 
manipulated. Our industrial forces are wickedly adjusted, but 
even if we had an ideal commercial and industrial organization, 
the spirit and temper of the age is devilish, and the fruit would 
still be the red flower of anarchy and the spawn of corruption. 

THE TAINT SPREADS. 

If we are ever to find relief from conditions that have finally 
become intolerable, we must realize the gravity of the situation. 
As already intimated, corruption does not stop at one point. The 
taint grows and spreads with a rapidity and malignity that are 
inconceivable. This is already seen in the fact that skullduggery 
and thuggery which have heretofore been confined to a given area, 
have in this last signal demonstration of their power, spread with 
brazen defiance over the entire city. Adapting the words of Holy 
Writ, we may say with tremendous emphasis, 'no ward liveth to 
itself.' The West End has now had a taste of what manv of the 



92 POLITICAL THUGGERY. 

river wards have suffered for years, and it ought to result in a 
feeHng of sympathy among citizens of every section and of every 
class. It ought to result in unifying the sentiment and inflaming 
the minds of all good^ citizens without respect to party. It ought 
to result in the inauguration of a movement for good government 
among decent people, who will thus make common cause against 
the common foe. 

PERNICIOUS EXAMPLE. 

Let us not flatter ourselves that the display of power and the 
invasion of rights and liberties will stop with elections. No one 
but God himself can tell what rights may next be denied, what 
liberties curtailed, what infamous wrongs inflicted. This we do 
assuredly know, that the taint of corruption will spread unless 
it is eradicated. Another terrific evil of the present condition is 
the undermining influence of pernicious example. The growing- 
youth of a community are always impressed by the successful 
men they see about them. What does it mean for the boys of 
St. Louis, if the most influential man in their ward is the saloon- 
keeper and pothouse politician? He is the favorite with city and 
state officials, he has entry into the offices of bankers and men of 
vast executive ability. Business and professional men pay him 
court, they honor him, thev depend upon him. The lawless saloon 
wields a far greater influence in the city than its strongest church. 
As long as this is the case, it will demand the very highest sanc- 
tions of religion and morality to bring up our young men to vir- 
tuous lives. Christian people will find it necessary to do some- 
thing more effective than beat drums, rattle tambourines and sing, 
"Throw Out the Life Line," either to save adult sinners or to 
prevent the young from following in their footsteps. Boys are 
born hero worshippers, and like all other people, they become 
like that which they worship. The boy's hero is not merely the 
business man who is shrewd, enterprising and successful, but in 
far too many cases the successful politician ; and we know what 
the moral character of the average politician is. Our pious pre- 
cepts are' well enough in their place, but they are neutralized by 
the vulgar slang- of corn-crib politicians and their henchmen. 



MISSOURI'S BATTLE WITH THE BOODLERS. 93 

NAKED AND NOT ASHAMED. 

In order to avoid the tremendous incentive to lives of dis- 
honor which the success of dishonorable men furnishes, we must 
make such success everywhere and forever impossible. Such 
a state of affairs, no matter how brought about, is an advertise- 
ment of shamelessness. "Naked and Not Ashamed" is the only 
fair description of St. Louis, unless the good people are aroused 
and set to work to retrieve their shattered fortunes. Can it be 
possible that we have poured out money and engaged some of the 
finest executive talent in the West to celebrate the Louisiana Pur- 
chase with a great World's Fair, only that people may see our 
foulness ? The fraternity of wickedness, the gods and undergods 
of the nether world are always in communication with one an- 
other. The word is being passed along the line that St. Louis is 
wide open and the vultures are gathering. The city is attracting 
to her midst the hunted outlaws of other cities. She will receive 
a permanent increase to her slum population — a permanent addi- 
tion to the burden she already carries for the maintenance of 
policemen, jails, courts, bailiffs, hospitals and asylums. This is 
the natural and inevitable result of decay, to spread the infection 
and increase the gangrene. 

IS THERE ANY RELIEF? 

Now is there any relief? In the first place, the church and 
the ministry have a duty to perform. The churches are gathering 
funds for their support, and for the support of their benevolent 
and missionary enterprises, and, as a matter of course, they must 
depend upon the present sources of production. It is pretty diffi- 
cult for a church to bear witness to-day with vehement earnest- 
ness against the worship of Mammon, and to-morrow take up a 
collection for an orphanage, a new church or a hospital in India. 
There need not be any jar between the two acts, but that there 
usually is such a jar goes without saying, for in humiliation and 
contrition the church must confess that she has not been a faith- 
ful witness against covetousness. Without being aware of it 
herself, she seems to have followed the Mammon-worshippers, to 
have achieved the extension of her borders by bowing at his 
shrine and holding out her hand for his shekels, instead of seek- 
ing first God, His Kingdom and His righteousness. The preachers 



94 POLITICAL THUGGERY. 

must be stalwart, prophetic and faithful in every detail of their 
high duty. They must be clear in their own hearts that they do 
not hold reputation or popularity dear, that they do not seek social 
prestige, great popularity or large salaries. They must be like 
Paul the Apostle to the Gentiles, "determined to know nothing- 
save Jesus Christ and Him crucified.'' 

SOCIAL REGENERATION. 

The danger in every calling is from an undue emphasis upon 
some feature of the work. Alinisters and churches have unduly 
emphasized the need of individual regeneration, and have slighted 
the great work of social regeneration. A community of saved 
people luiist constitute a saved society, whether it be a city or a 
state or a nation. It is utterlv incomprehensible how a city like 
St. Louis and a state like ^Missouri, made up, by a large majority 
at least, of professed Christian people, can become the spoil of 
men, lewd, base and criminal ; and yet such is the loudly adver- 
tised fact. We believe that preachers generally undervalue the 
manhood of the pews ; that there is more sturdy courage in the 
hearts of their members than they give them credit for. We be- 
lieve they can speak with more courageous manliness upon all 
moral issues than they are in the habit of doing. Let them seek 
to know the will of God for their own day and generation, and 
then, regardless of the consequences to themselves, labor night 
and day to make that will triumphant. 

A SOP TO CERBERUS. 

The daily practice of Christian men must be toned up. They 
must be taught that every business transaction is an opportunity 
to honor their Saviour in the service of their fellow men. They 
must not lend themselves to chicanery, deception or fraud of any 
sort. They must not consent to these practices, and if a corpora- 
tion of which they are a part is guilty of these sins, it must be 
against their protest and in spite of their influence. Every Chris- 
tian business man as well as every Christian preacher, ought to 
study profoundly the problems of labor and capital, and seek by 
all means in their power to adjust the inequalities of the wage 
system. A check for one thousand dollars to the Provident Asso- 
ciation is a good thing, but when it comes from an employer, 



MISSOURI'S BATTLE WITH THE BOODLERS. 95 

Christian though he be, who drives his employees without mercy 
and stoops to fraud in the prosecution of his business, it is all 
too much like a sop to Cerberus. In other words, while we are 
making sacrifices and contributing money in large amounts to 
have our Gospel preached, the time has finally come when we 
must likewise make sacrifices and contribute money to have it 
put into daily practice, or else the whole church, ministry and all, 
will stand convicted of an infamous hypocrisy. 

THE BOODLER'S POWER. 

Citizens of all shades of political and religious opinion mast 
make an end of apathy and neglect. The pre-occupation in busi- 
ness of the so-called better classes, and their consequent neglect of 
political duties, is the chief source of power for the boodler and 
corruptionist. The Twenty-eighth Ward in St. Louis stands for- 
ever disgraced by the 'fact that a saloon keeper is the central 
committeeman for the Democrats who reside in this ward. This 
would never have been possible except for the culpable, not to say 
criminal, neglect of their plain duty by men who are still called 
good citizens. If, in order to give more time and attention to our 
political duties, we must make a little less money, give a few less 
receptions and theatre parties, spend a little less in following the 
fashions and obeying the dictates of Mrs. Grundy, is it not well 
worth while ? More than sixty years ago, Alexis De Tocqueville 
showed that the principle of local self-government is fundamental 
to our political institutions and to the very spirit of liberty itself. 
He said, "Local assemblies of citizens constitute the strength of 
free nations. Municipal institutions are to liberty what primary 
schools are to science. They bring it within the peoples' reach. 
They teach men how to use and how to enjoy it. A nation may 
establish a system of free government, but without the spirit of 
municipal institutions, it cannot have the spirit of liberty." 

DECAY OF REPUBLICAN INSTITUTIONS. 

Prof. Franklin H. Giddings, of Columbia University, said, in 
a public address, "We are witnessing to-day beyond question the 
decay, perhaps not permanent, but at any rate the decay of Re- 
publican institutions. No man in his right mind can deny it.'' 
It is needless to say that we have, in recent municipal history in 




28th WARD COMMITTEEMAN'S PLACE OF BUSINESS. 



MISSOURI'S BATTLE WITH THE BOODLERS. 97 

our own city, a living picture of this very decay ; and there can 
be no question as to its permanency, unless the better classes awake 
to a consciousness of the enormity of their offence in neglecting 
political duties and the gravity of the peril that threatens them 
and institutions blood-bought. 

There must also be effective organization of the forces that 
believe in common decency, and by effective organization we 
mean some form of organization which will include every mem- 
ber of the community who is in sympathy with the spirit of 
liberty and the high purposes of republican government. Such 
an organization, of course, must be independent of party affilia- 
tion. It must be made up of men of all parties, and in its work 
must serve all parties by seeking to keep them pure. It is un- 
necessary to go into details respecting either the character or the 
work of such an organization, but in the present state of semi- 
savagery in which we find our American cities, no municipality 
on the map can safely be without it. 

Above all, our efforts must be sustained. We must not grow 
weary in well-doing. The patriot must be as sleepless and vig- 
ilant as the purveyor of pelf and his henchmen. A New York 
brewer once said, 'The church people can drive us when they try, 
and we know it. Our hope is in working after they grow tired, 
and continuing to work 365 days in the year." Who does not 
exclaim with Dr. Parkhurst, *'Oh what a world this would soon 
be if the perseverance of the saints were made of as enduring stuff 
as the perseverance of the sinners." Says Josiah Strong in his 
little book, ''The Twentieth Century City," "We despise the 
bosses, and they are no doubt worthy of all the contempt they re- 
ceive, but they do not create the political situation. They are its 
product. When a boss disappears, whether into a prison cell and 
a striped suit where so many of them belong, or whether he re- 
tires with all the plunder he wants, or is overthrown by a stronger 
rival, in any case he is succeeded by another boss, who to the 
methods of his predecessor very likely adds more original vil- 
lainy of his own. The supply will be inexhaustible so long as 
public opinion remains uneducated and the public conscience 
lethargic." 



98 POLITICAL THUGGERY. 

We have sore need of unselfishness and courage and straight- 
forward manHness and daring rectitude that will introduce "The 
Heroic Age" concerning which Richard Watson Gilder sings : 
"He speaks not well who doth his time deplore, 
Naming it new and little and obscure, 
Ignoble and unfit for lofty deeds. 
All times were modern in the time of them. 
And this no more than others. Do thy part 
Here in the living day, as did the great 
Who made old days immortal ; so shall men. 
Gazing back to this far-looming hour 
Say : Then the time when men were truly men ; 
Though war grew less, their spirit met the test 
Of new conditions ; conquering civic wrong ; 
Saving the state anew by virtuous lives ; 
Guarding the country's honor as their own. 
And their own as their country's and their sons' ; 
Defying leagued fraud with single truth ; 
Not fearing loss ; and daring to be pure. 
When error through the land raged like a pest. 
They calmed the madness caught from mind to mind 
By wisdom drawn from eld, and counsel sane ; 
And as the martyrs of the ancient world 
Gave death for man, so nobly gave they life ; 
Those the great days, and that the heroic age." 



Chapter VII. 
CITIZENS' INDIGNATION MEETING. 



LtfC. 



Tivo classes study and practise politics and government: 
place hunters and privilege hunters. In a zvorld of relativities 
like ours size of area has a great deal to do zvith the truth of 
principles. America has grozmi so big — and the tickets to be 
voted, and the powers of government, and the duties of citizens, 
and the profits of personal use of public functions have all groum 
so big — that the average citizen has broken dozvn. No man can 
half understand or Jialf operate the fulness of this big citizenship, 
except by giving his zvhole time to it. This the place hunter can 
do, and the privilege hunter. Government, therefore — municipal, 
State, national — is passing into the hands of these tzvo cl'asses, 
specialized for the functions of pozver by their appetite for the 
fruits of pozver. The pozver of citizenship is relinquished byi 
those zvho do not and can not knozv hozv to exercise it t& those 
zvho can and do — by those zvho have a livelihood to piake to those 
zvho make politics their livelihood! — Henry D. Lloyd, in Wealth 
Against Commonwealth. 



CHAPTER VII. 



CITIZENS' INDIGNATION MEETING. 



THE CHAIRMAN S SPEECH FROM THE RECTOR OF ST. GEORGES 

BRING YOUR OWN REPEATERS THE HOME AGAINST THE 

BROTHEL PERSONNEL OF THE MEETING RESOLUTIONS 

ADOPTED — DUNKLIN COUNTY RESOLUTIONS. 



"Large bodies move slowly." A great city like St. Louis, 
with its immense commercial enterprises and intense activities, is 
not to be stirred by a mere quarrel among politicians. Under the 
tremendous momentum which such a community acquires, it is 
carried on in its usual routine, unless something extraordinary 
occurs which attracts universal attention and arouses universal 
indignation. Those who have read the preceding chapters will 
agree that something extraordinary had occurred. Men who are 
ordinarily quiet and attentive only to their own private affairs 
were stirred to the depths of their hearts. There are many of 
our fellow citizens in Missouri and elsewhere who read with 
amazement of the "Indian'' outrages, as they were reported by 
the daily press, and wondered how it could be possible that self- 
respecting men could submit to them without meeting such at- 
tacks with armed resistance. There can be no manner of doubt 
that if the best citizens had that very afternoon formed a vigil- 
ance committee, armed themselves with riot guns, and, even at 
the cost of life, driven the thugs away from the polls, their action 
would have been applauded throughout the State and the nation. 
That this was not done must be attributed not to cowardice on 
the part of these men, but to their manful and heroic patience 
and innate respect for law and order. 



102 POLITICAL THUGGERY. 

Only a few days followed the outrages of the primaries 
when the Folk Committee of St. Louis called an indignation meet- 
ing, which was held Thursday, March 17th, 1904, at Chatsworth 
Hall, Seventeenth and Olive Streets. Long before the appointed 
hour, 8 o'clock, the hall was packed and jammed by a quiet, de- 
termined crowd of the best citizens of St. Louis. Multitudes 
could not wedge their way up the crowded stairway into the 
auditorium, and were obliged to stand on the sidewalk and in the 
street, where they clamored for a speaker until speakers were 
sent down to address them. Governor Norman J. Colman pre- 
sided, and J. V. S. Barrett was temporary chairman. 

THE CHAIRMAN'S SPEECH. 

Mr. Colman is an ex-Lieutenant Governor of the State. In 
his impassioned address he said, "We have assembled here for 
a purpose, an important purpose, to express our indignation at 
the treatment we received at the Democratic primaries in this city. 
We have not come here to discuss the merits of candidates. No ; 
another issue has arisen. Whether the good citizens of this com- 
munity are to be deprived of their elective franchise is now the 
question. 

"I have lived in St. Louis fifty years, but never before have 
I been prevented from casting my vote. Try as I would, I could 
not get near the polls last Saturday. Many of my friends met 
with the same experience. 

''Some may not realize the full meaning of this deprivation. 
It was for this our forefathers laid down their lives in the revolu- 
tion. We, in the Twenty-eighth ward, had no doubt of the result 
of a fair count. 

"I am positive Folk would have carried the ward. Evidently 
there was little confidence on the other side, and it was decided 
not to let the decision go to a voice of the people. They went to 
other wards and hired thugs and ruffians and 'repeaters' to go to 
the Twenty-eighth ward. Would they have gone to all this 
trouble if they thought they would win? 

'T stood in line a long time. Although "j^j years old, sick 
and unfit to be there, I went nevertheless. I was making no 



MISSOURI'S BATTLE WITH THE BOODLERS. 103 

progress on account of the many that were pushed in front of me. 
I saw I had no show whatever and left. My old friend, Judge 
Seddon, outstayed me. I met him later. He said : 'Well, I could 
have voted.' 'Why didn't you?' I asked. 'Well,' he said, Tmet a 
friend who asked me if I wanted to vote.' I said yes, and he asked 
a fellow to step out of line to make way for me. 'What delegation 
are you voting for?' the judge was asked. 'For the Folk delega- 
tion,' replied the judge. 'Well, I can't do anything for you,' re- 
plied the friend, and that's how close Judge Seddon came to 
voting. 

"I see Gov. Dockery, a man for whom I had the highest ad- 
miration, has come out in opposition to Folk. 

"He has not heeded the warning sent out by the St. Louis 
press. It has not come home to him as it has to us. I can see his 
rage had the same incidents happened at Gallatin. I can see his 
rage and just indignation had the voters of neighboring counties 
stepped over and usurped the rights of the voters of his own 
county. Language would not express his feelings. He would be 
beside himself. If these facts had not come home to me I could 
not have believed them. 

"This insult of the good people will be resented, however. 
The country voters will not stand for it. From the Kaw to the 
Mississippi, from Iowa to Arkansas, the truth of these outrages 
is known, and will be revenged in proper time." (Applause.) 

FROM THE RECTOR OF ST GEORGE'S. 

Rev. Dr. Robert A. Holland, who was unable to attend the 
meeting, sent an address which was read by Judge Sterling P. 
Bond. In that address he said : 

"Fellow Citizens — I much regret that my strength is not 
equal to the duty you would put upon me. 

"No duties could be happier, notwithstanding the trouble that 
requires it, than to stand in a place of peril for my city and state. 
I should like to speak to you as a democrat born of a democratic 
house and brought up on democracy as an element of my religion. 

"I should like to speak to you as an ex-confederate soldier, 
the chaplain of one of John Morgan's Kentucky brigades, present 
in Frankfort, Ky., the day when the grandfather of the young 
adventurer, now at the head of your city politics, was inaugu- 



104 POLITICAL THUGGERY. 

rated as provisional governor of Kentucky and governed for an 
hour. 

"My word to you would be that you prepare for heroic or- 
deals. The danger you have to face calls for the sort of manhood 
that looks without flinching into the cannon's mouth. Men who 
lack that sort of manhood have no right to be among you; no 
right to the franchise that has been wrested from you. The one 
proof of title to freedom is willingness to die for it. Your city 
now summons a forlorn hope to redeem it from official ruffianism, 
and the question you have to answer is, whether you will devote 
your money and your lives to its redemption. 

"The danger has grown worse since last Saturday. The 
governor of the state has at last uncovered himself as its arch- 
anarch and patron of ruffianism. For three years he has played 
the part of prompter from behind the scenes. His whisper, though 
as low as he could breathe it, has been heard from Kansas City 
to St. Louis. 

"Throughout the commonwealth he governs he has become 
notorious for a peculiar 'wink.' A wink is the expression by 
which cunning indicates that its words are meaningless, or mean 
the opposite of what they say. The governor said some words 
to the police board of St. Louis about keeping order at the polls, 
but the board saw the 'wink' in the words and acted accordingly. 

"The words were for the public, the 'wink' was for the board, 
and the board passed it to the polls, where it did its work in 
lawless violence. 

''He can not shelter himself behind words which his common- 
wealth has long since learned to be worthless. The 'wink' was 
too loud. It has reverberated in every township, in every farm- 
house of the state, and traveled across the nation from sea to sea. 
He has winked away the freedom of St. Louis and the fair name 
of Missouri. And now that he is exposed, he has the efifrontery 
to defend this dishonor, and charge the blame of its consequences 
to the one man in the state who has represented all the honor of 
the rest of its manhood in trying to drive >its scoundrels behind 
the bars, where they belong. 



MISSOURI'S BATTLE WITH THE BOODLERS. 105 

"This man, not Hawes, not Reed, not Gantt, not Dockery, 
is the 'ambitious politician' who would overturn his party. Yet 
but for Gov. Dockery there would have been no Hawes, and but 
for Gov. Dockery no Standard theatre congressman, and but for 
Gov. Dockery's connivance, no Gantt bid for Butler's support, 
which may be equivalent to a nomination — striking the handcuffs 
away from the chief criminal of the state and sending him back 
to thug leadership and the brass-knuck revel of last Saturday's 
election. 

''And now this governor dares to say to the people of Mis- 
souri the revel Mid not change the result.' How does he know? 
Did he count from the observatory of his mansion the voters who 
were not permitted to vote, who were frightened from voting, 
who remained away from the polls because of apprehension of 
just such treatment as no age or rank could foretell while there? 
Has it come to this that citizens have no right to vote unless their 
vote would 'change the result?' Then only majorities have rights, 
and since majorities can only be found out by actual ballot, the 
majority may be guessed beforehand, and the rights of each voter 
determined by the guess. 

That is precisely what happened last Saturday, and with the 
additional guess as to whether or no the particular voter would 
vote with the foreguessed majority. What a comfort to your 
bruised heads, sons of David R. Francis, that you received the 
blows that felled you to the ground, for the benefit of the majority. 
And what solace, Mr. Garrett and Mr. Bland, soothes your smart 
at the thought that your knockout did not 'change the result.' 

"Consolatory governor! His words drop balm into every 
wound his wink on ruffians have dealt. Head gashes now blos- 
som into garlands. There need be no more distress. Hereafter 
police commissioners can announce beforehand the majority that 
is to be, and bid all minority voters stay at home, and escape cudg- 
elling for unnecessary votes that can not possibly 'change the 
result.' So shall brood a spirit of heavenly peace over the World's 
Fair city, compassionate governor ! 

"Surely no- one will find fault with such a governor for a 
threat that comes from compassion in his prevision of results and 



106 POLITICAL THUGGERY. 

interpretations of resultant rights. • The threat is that any other 
course than submission will make matters worse. Bolt, demo- 
crats, if you dare. The greater the bolt, the greater will be the 
democratic majority. Where will the increase come from? Not 
from the bolters, and surely not from the party they join, but of 
the loins of the machine they repudiate. It can and will beget the 
increase at the right time. St. Louis knows how. Jim Butler's 
majority of 60,000 tells how. The primary election of last Satur- 
day tells how. 

"In that election 16,000 votes were cast, and 13,000 of them 
were for the Dockery-Butler-Hawes-hoodlum conspiracy — four 
times as many as honesty and decency and order received. Four 
times as many, and only 13,000. Thirteen thousand out of the 
30,000 democrats in the city. Yet not one hoodlum was knocked 
down or shoved or scared ofif. And every hoodlum voted at least 
once, or was voted for if absent. 

"The whole mob of the machine was marshalled by military 
methods and hope of plunder, and flung forth for grand flam- 
boyant effect upon the state. Still it was less than one-fifth of the 
party's fair and fairly counted suffrage. vSo that with one-fifth 
of the party's suffrage, the Dockery-Butler-Hawes-hoodlum con- 
spiracy managed to cast four times as many ballots as the friends 
of honesty and decency and order. 

"Hence it is that your wise and good governor speaks ad- 
visedly and should be heeded when he calls your indignation a 
bolt, and warns you that no matter how many votes it carries 
away, the machine majority in the state will be larger than ever. 
Fellow-citizen, did ever before an American commonwealth hear 
from its chief executive such a swashbuckler blurt of purpose to 
defy its will? 

"Does the governor of Missouri think his fellow-citizens to 
be a commonwealth of fools? Does he irnagine that he can de- 
ceive them any longer, or has ever deceived them, since the first 
machine politician was found guilty of oflicial corruption? Can 
he for one moment flatter himself that his silence has not been 
understood all along ? Bribe after bribe offered and taken, meas- 
ure after measure bought and sold, under his gubernatorial nose, 
and not one sniff to denote the suspicion of a scent ; culprit after 
culprit arraigned here in St. Louis, and never one word of clear. 



MISSOURI'S BATTLE WITH THE BOODLERS. 107 

sharp, outspoken condemnation of the particular villainy or par- 
ticular villain ; never one word of distinct praise for the foremost 
champion of law ; nor at any time a word of stern rebuke for the 
frauds of his police commissioners and the thuggeries of their 
policemen, even when exposed by grand jury reports, nor a per- 
sonal examination of the truth of the grand jury charges, with 
dismissal of a single ruffian officer. 

"People of Missouri, you have been very 'patient. You have 
read bulletin after bulletin of lies scattered broadcast by hands 
you have trusted with leadership. The liars insult you with as- 
sumptions of a thick-headed ignorance that can not detect their 
brazen falsity. We, your fellow citizens, believe in your intelli- 
gence, your patriotism, your sympathy with the right, and appeal 
to you to save us as well as yourselves from the freeman's last 
resort. Else it will be your time next for appeal, and then too 
late without revolution. 

''Will you shout back your answer now and week by week 
until the conspirators against your freedom and ours are swept 
out of power, and honest men govern a commonwealth of honest 
men that has no employment for thieves and thugs except hard 
labor and stripes that make their characters safely known for 
every honest man's contempt?" 

Imagine, if you can, the effect of an address like this from 
such a source and upon such an assembly ! Estimate, if you can, 
its far-reaching influence throughout the State and nation. 

BRING YOUR OWN 'REPEATERS.' 

Still another minister was heard from. Rev. E. M. Richmond, ■ 
who said : 

"The whole thing is astonishing, astounding. I don't see 
what you men were doing. I believe men have a right to defend 
their God-given rights. In future I would advise, when you ex- 
pect to meet 'repeaters,' bring along your 'repeaters.' (Great ap- 
plause.) 

"No man under seven feet tall can step in front of me, 
whether protected by a policeman or not. Are we to prove un- 
worthy and degenerate sons of illustrious sires? Are we going 
to just hold a meeting and then have things repeated? I appeal 



108 POLITICAL THUGGERY. 

to you to protect, at least, the grayhaired men of your town. Don't 
permit them to be molested again. 

"I am not surprised at the position of Gov. Dockery in this 
matter, but I tell you I am glad he has been smoked out. I be- 
lieve that Joseph W. Folk can be nominated. If he goes down to 
defeat, however, he will go down with the vote of the best class 
of men that ever went down with a democratic candidate. The 
boodlers and criminals will not vote for hjm. They bolt whenever 
it suits them. They have no fixed principles. 

"If the principles of Joseph W. Folk are turned down in the 
convention, then thousands of democratic voters will not go to the 
polls on election day, or, instead, they may do something they 
never did before in all their lives." 

THE HOME AGAINST THE BROTHEL. 

Rev. Frank G. Tyrrell, pastor of Mount Cabanne Christian 
Church, when called upon to address the meeting, said : "I am a 
Missourian and a Democrat from choice and not by accident. 
When I went to the Arcade to vote at last Saturday's primaries, 
I was met by a plug-ugly with the face of a bull-dog, who shoved 
a piece of paper in my hand, which I found to be a ticket of the 
Hawes delegation. The intimation was that I could vote if I 
would follow him. This man pranced up and down the line 
of voters, and occasionally seized upon a man and took him out 
of line and walked him up ahead of citizens who had been wait- 
ing for hours. He seemed to be running the- election, in spite 
of the fact that two or three blue-coated officers stood at the door 
of the polling place and saw all that was going on. 

"But it is needless to describe the tactics employed. After 
finally getting in to the voting booth and depositing my ballot, I 

walked out the back door, where Mr. S. T. R and several 

others were holding a whispered- conversation with the bluecoat 
who guarded the exit. The officer was saying in an undertone, 
'No, no, Sam, we couldn't do it.' As 'Sam' had been shouting for 
the machine candidate all the afternoon, it had the appearance 
of an attempt on his part to smuggle 'Indians' in at the back door. 
When I left the voting place, it was with the consciousness that 
some Tndian' had neutralized my vote and doubtless the votes of 
several other citizens as well. I do not object to meeting on a 



MISSOURI'S BATTLE WITH THE BOODLERS. 109 

field the fire of an honorable foe ; I am willing to be killed, if need 
be, in honorable battle. I might not object even to being kicked 
to death by a mule, provided it be a Missouri mule, but I do ob- 
ject to being smothered to death by skunks. (Applause.) Governor 
Colman asks what shall be the answer to such outrages. It 
seems to me that it has become a matter of the primary, funda- 
mental rights of men and that there are times when the only satis- 
factory answer is the click of a rifle, or the dangling hangman's 
noose! It is no longer a question between rival candidates for 
office, it has come to be simply a question of whether the home or 
the brothel shall bear rule." (Applause.) 

PERSONNEL OF THE MEETING. 

Judge Sterling P. Bond made an arousing appeal for sus- 
tained opposition to the methods of the boodlers in politics, as 
well as in business. Others were heard from in speeches that 
were not to be misunderstood. Men who have lived in St. Louis 
for a generation declared that never before had so representative 
and indignant a meeting been held. Each reference to the dom- 
ination of the machine was met with hisses that almost curdled the 
blood. It was not a crowd of fanatics, but of men of the highest 
probity and intelligence. The character of the assembly will 
forever be remembered by those who were present. Among 
others who heard the speeches and voted with enthusiastic una- 
nimity for the adoption of the resolutions herein, were the follow- 
ing: R. M. Noonan, Dr. C. H. Hughes, Dr. Bransford Lewis, Dr. 
M. C. Marshall, H. L. Maupin, William S. Baker, John H. Ten- 
nant, W. M. McPheeters, Mr. Bemis, W. K. Kavanaugh, Saunders 
Nbrvell, J. D. Goldman, R. W. Upshaw, J. M. Allen, Aug. 
Schlafly, R. W. Shapleigh, W. J. Gilbert, Charles P. O'Fallon, 
T. K. Skinker, A. D. Brown, James Bannerman, G. D. Bolia, J. 
W. Allison, Dr. C. C. Morns, J. W. Fristoe, T. H. West, A. H. 
Duncan, S. W. Fordyce, Sr., S. W. Fordyce, Jr., William Bag- 
nell, A. C. Ritchey, Forrest Ferguson, H. W. Peters, G. W. Har- 
ris, E. E. Rand, J. L. La Prelle, Joseph M. Hayes, W. M. Sloan, 
Paul Jones, J. A. Webb, J. V. S. Barret, Thomas Plummer, E. T. 
Campbell, Jesse Boogher, J. E. Allison, J. M. Houston, A. C. 
Church, Prof. Nipher, D. A. Jamison, William Field, Judge C. F, 
Shult, Dr. Given Campbell, Prof. D. S. Hill, F. N. Judson, James 



110 . POLITICAL THUGGERY. 

L. Carlisle, H. Gambrill, George H. Small, Sterling P. Bond, 
B. F. Savior, J. B. O'Meara, E. S. Lewis, Dr. Frank G. Tyrrell, 
J. K. McDearmon, John H. Wear, V. O. Saunders, W. E. Gray, 
James M. Carpenter, Claude H. Wetmore, Dr. James M. Ball, Dr. 
G. N. Seidlitz, Dr. R. M. King, James W. Alloway, P. J. Far- 
rington, Dr. William Standing, W. D. Isenberg, Dr. William 
Nifong, Stanislaus Mitchell, Thomas Mabrey, E. S. Lewis, W. 
F. Matthews, N. J. Willard, H. M. Noel, Judge Heller, Dr. E. 
E. Gulp, Frank Merryman, C. H. Fauntleroy, Lee Meriwether, 
John H. Adams, Rev. Dr. William Short, Charles Maurer, Rev. 
W. Q. Donnan, J. L. Hornsby and R. H. Kern. 

RESOLUTIONS ADOPTED. 

The following are the resolutions offered at the conclusion of 
the meeting and the great crowd adopted them with a rousing 
cheer : 

"When in the name and under the banner of the democratic 
party vicious men aspire to high office, and in their madness be- 
come the leaders of the lawless, for the purpose of trampling upon 
the rights and liberties of the people, it becomes imperative that 
the great majority of men in this historic party, whose charac- 
ters are untarnished and unsullied, awake from their lethargy and 
hurl from power the vicious and corrupt. 

Through the instrumentalities of the basest characters we 
have had laws fastened upon us which not only strike at the 
foundation of our rights, but usurp our inalienable liberties. Such 
are the police and election laws, under which ruffians and tyrants 
rule the great cities of our commonwealth, with the abandon and 
hauteur of the harlot. Under these laws the right to life, liberty 
and property has become endangered. 

Sworn officers of the law, who derive their sustenance from 
the public treasury, refuse to protect the life, liberty and property 
of the citizens who give them meat and bread to eat. By these 
men and these laws, fostered by their masters, the spirit of inde- 
pendence which inspired the immortal pen of Jefferson lies pros- 
trate and dying. 

The autonomy of municipalities, the fundamental postulate 
of a true democracy, home rule, for which Kosciusko expatriated 



MISSOURI'S BATTLE WITH THE BOODLERS. Ill 

his native land and Emmet gave his Hfe, do not maintain within 
this commonwealth. 

In a democracy men should be guaranteed the right of peace- 
ful self defense by the sword of the ballot, but where anarchy rules 
the citizen is not only robbed of his privilege of peaceful self-de- 
fense, but his personal liberty and life are placed in jeopardy by 
thieves, ruffians and the sworn officers of the law. 

We have reasoned with these men who have been instru- 
mental in passing and maintaining these baneful laws, but where 
the prurient palm of avarice and ignoble ambition are joined 
together, reason has no citadel in which to sit enthroned. 

We have petitioned these men, but our supplications have 
been treated with that insolence which is native only to the cor- 
rupt, and for which barbarism would show as much consideration. 

We condemn the actions of the metropolitan police force on 
Saturday last, and especially do we condemn in unmeasured terms 
the action of the superior officers and ^he board of police commis- 
sioners prior to and on the day of the primary election held in the 
city of St. Louis March 12, 1904; and we call upon and petition 
the governor of this state to remove those members of the board 
of police commissioners now holding office by his sufferance. 

To overthrow these men and abrogate these laws is the duty 
of the democratic party and of patriots. 

We declare for a primary election law at which all political 
parties shall hold and all men shall be nominated by the direct 
vote of the people throughout the state of Missouri, on the same 
day, at public expense, and with penalties for the violation of 
these laws which will send their transgressors to the penitentiary. 

We demand that the police and election laws of these great 
cities be taken out of the hands of any executive who dares to link 
his fortune with the vicious and corrupt, and that they be placed 
in the hands of men who hold patriotism and justice above the 
base advantages of criminal partisanship. Be it therefore . 

Resolved, That we, as patriotic citizens, now and henceforth 
shall make continued and unrelenting war against these men, 
their methods and the laws now upon the statute books ; and be it 
further 

Resolved, That we call upon our brother democrats and all 
patriotic citizens throughout the state of Missouri to aid and as- 




112 POLITICAL THUGGERY. 

sist us, not only in driving the givers and takers of bribes from 
public office, but in extirpating these laws which rob honorable 
and noble men of their rights, liberties and property." 

The Folk Committee issued an address to the voters of Mis- 
souri following this great meeting, in which they said : 

'In addition to all this, another new feature has arisen in 
Missouri politics. For the first time in this generation four can- 
didates are running for the governorship nomination of Missouri, 
with three of them running against one. Hawes' name appears 
on the ticket against Folk in Carter and Mississippi counties, 
while Reed emphatically refused to allow his name to go on the 
ticket. Reed runs against Folk in Howell and Schuyler counties, 
and neither Hawes' nor Gantt's name appears on the ticket. In 
other words, they are running only in spots ; Folk is the only can- 
didate for governor of Missouri who is running in every county 
of the state. 

Is this fair politics ? Is this combination scheme to defeat 
the will of the people what the great Democratic party of Missouri 
is going to stand for? I do not believe it. I believe the people 
everywhere will rebuke it when they have a fair chance'to express 
their sentiments at the polls." 

DUNKLIN COUNTY RESOLUTIONS. 

'From the many meetings which were held throughout the 
State, similar to the Chatsworth Hall meeting of St. Louis, we 
select that of the Democrats of Dunklin County, the sentiment of 
which is indicated by the resolutions which they adopted, viz : 

''Be it resolved by the Democracy of Dunklin County, rep- 
resented in delegate convention now assembled at Kennett, as 
follows : 

That we take great pleasure in indorsing the economical and 
business-like management of our state affairs under Democratic 
rule for the past thirty years ; and point with pride to the phenom- 
enal reduction and wiping out of the state's indebtedness inherited 
by the Democratic party as a result of Republican misrule and 
plundering in this state. 

PURITY IN POLITICS. 

That we are opposed to boodling, boodlers, bossism and police 
interference in politics, and we also believe that it is necessary for 



MISSOURI'S BATTLE WITH THE BOODLERS. 113 

the Democratic party to emphasize its position on this question, 
not only in selecting its nominee for governor, but should see 
that the nominees selected for minor state offices are men known 
to stand for purity in politics. 

That we heartily indorse the candidacy of Hon. Joseph W. 
Folk for governor of Missouri, not because we believe any one 
man in the party *'has a monopoly on decency and honesty in poli- 
tics," but because, in the first place, he is pre-eminently the ex- 
ponent of the issue against boodling and favors the cure for cor- 
ruption in public office ; second, because he is in every way worthy 
and well qualified to discharge the duties of the office; third, 
because his Democracy is vouched for by such prominent Demo- 
crats and distinguished statesmen as Hon. C. F. Cochran, of St. 
Joseph] the Hon. Champ Clark, of BowHng Green; the Hon. W. 
D. Vandiver, of Cape Girardeau, and the Hon. Norman J. Col- 
man, of St. Louis, and Hon. W. J. Bryan. 

. PRIMARY OUTRAGES. 

Be it further resolved by this convention as follows : 
That it is the sentiment of Dunklin County Democrats that 
the statement of facts as to the outrages visited upon prominent 
citizens and good Democrats in the city of St. Louis by boodlers, 
ruffians and thugs, in order to deprive them of their right to vote, 
as stated by such reputable citizens as Hon. Norman J. Colman, 
Judge Sterling P. Bond, Judge Seddon, the Rev. R. A. Holland, 
the Rev. Frank G. Tyrrell, Mr. J. C. Roberts, J. W. Fristoe, Mr. 
R. W. Upshaw and scores of other prominent citizens and Demo- 
crats of the city of St. Louis, is entitled to full faith and credit at 
the hands of the honest Democracy throughout the entire State 
of Missouri. 

GOVERNOR'S ATTITUDE. 

Be it further resolved by this convention as follows : 
That we regret no less the intimidation of delegates at Clay- 
ton and the prevention of voters in the city of St. Louis from 
casting their votes at their late primary than we do the un-Demo- 
cratic, unprecedented, immodest and unfair interview of the chief 
executive of Missouri, assailing the Democracy of the leading 
candidate for gubernatorial honors, who has already received 

8 



114 POLITICAL THUGGERY. 

the support of a large number of the rock-ribbed Democratic 
counties throughout southeast Missouri. 

That we keenly feel the blow aimed at good and loyal Demo- 
crats who are supporting Mr. Folk for governor, and we fully 
appreciate the intent and purpose of our chief executive in thus 
prostituting the powerful influences of his high office in so grossly 
and unjustly assaulting Mr. Folk and his supporters and lending 
his influence to encourage the tactics of ruffians, thugs and bood- 
lers in politics." 



Chapter VIII. 
THE MINISTERS' APPEAL. 



Of course there is a zvay of preaching that zvill keep the axles 
cool. Unquestionably we might expatiate eloquently on historic 
tinrighteoiisness, and the greater the eloquence, the greater the 
favor with which u'e should be followed. We can malign David 
for his vices, and pour canister-shot into poor Solomon for his 
irregularities; and his being a back number, and having no ex- 
tant relatives to pound yon with a libel suit, the whole performance 
reduces to an elegant sedative just zvarm enough to stimulate the 
blood if the church is cold, and cold enough to discourage per- 
spiration if it is July. Here are certain moral ideas to be pushed. 
IV ho is goiiig to' push them if the pulpit does not? Here are cer- 
tain breaches of moral propriety and decency on the part of the 
national or the municipal government. Who is going to protest 
if the pulpit does not? Do you say that that is going outside of 
your diocese? Well, zvhat is your diocese? Are you one of God's 
prophets, visioned with an eye that sees right and zvrong zvith 
something of the distinctness of divine intuition, and are you 
going to let the wrong lie there as so much ethical rot and close 
your eyes to it and pray, ''Thy Kingdom Come?" — Chas. H. Park- 
hurst, D. D. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



THE MINISTERS' APPEAL. 



POLITICAL -BUYERS WEALTHY TIME TO OUST BRIGANDS — CON- 
TROLLED BY ONE MAN PUNISH THE LEADERS — GIVE WAY 

TO IMPORTED BRAWLERS DESTRUCTION OF SUFFRAGE. 



The pulpits of St. Louis have never lacked courage and de- 
votion to duty, and it is fair to say that they have been almost 
uniformly occupied by prudent, conservative men. The St. Louis 
clergy, as a body, have clear convictions upon all moral issues. 
They likewise hold strenuously to the old ideals concerning the 
scope and function of the Christian ministry. Quite a number of 
them are men who have occupied their pulpits for more than a 
quarter of a century. They know St. Louis through and through, 
and with their strong convictions touching the peculiar work of 
the church and ministry, the separation of Church and State, and 
the high spiritual function of the preacher of the gospel, they 
are seldom carried out of the beaten path made fragrant by the 
footprints of holy men through the centuries. The document 
herein is all the more significant. It can not be conceived that 
such a body of men could for a moment be blinded to the real issue 
involved, or used to get any party chestnuts out of the fire. 

On March i8th, following the famous primaries, one of the 
ministerial associations adopted a set of resolutions in which 
they made an appeal to their members throughout the State. 
This was printed in the daily papers and called forth the fol- 
lowing letter from a' prominent business man, who is a member 
of another religious body : 

Ralston Purina Company, 

Props, of Purina Mills, 
"Where Purity is Paramount," 

St. Louis, March i8, 1904. 
Dear Mr. : I quote from the Post-Dispatch's 

account of the Christian Ministers' meeting of last Monday : 
"The Christian Church Ministers' Association of St. 

Louis has appealed to the 170,000 members of the Church 



118 POLITICAL THUGGERY. 

in Missouri to do all in their power to reclaim the State from 
the forces of moral and political corruption and the control 
of men vicious and base." 

If a wave of this kind should be sent over the State it 
would only unify the Christian people and the people who 
are in favor of good moral government regardless of party 
affiliation — as against the elements of corruption which are 
doubtless unified to the fullest degree. 

The question before us at this time is not whether Mr. 
Folk is a good Democrat or not, or for that matter it is not 
a question of whether a Democrat or Republican is elected to 
the office of Governor of Missouri. The question is whether 
we as citizens shall continue to enjoy the privilege of the 
ballot. I was one of those who was deprived of my vote last 
Saturday by the ruffians in the twenty-eighth ward. It would 
seem to me a good plan for you to start such a move as has 
been started in your Association, in every similar Association 
in the City of St. Louis, Catholic and Protestant alike. A 
message should go to all the good people of Missouri regard- 
less o^ party affiliations, to right this matter. We must real- 
ize that although the better class of Democrats in the City 
of St. Louis are being stirred to action at this time, that this 
will not be the case in the State unless the facts are properly 
placed before the people. It would seem that there is no 
organization so well qualified to do this as the church. 

Yours very truly, 

George R. Robinson. 

The same feeling took possession of the minds and hearts of 
many others, and resulted in the preparation and pubHcation of 
the following appeal, with the signatures of ministers and relig- 
ious editors attached : 

"To the Christian People of Missouri: A company of 
preachers would address you in behalf of law and order. We 
are not so much interested in any partisan or any party as in the 
re-establishment of good government over our city and common- 
wealth. We say re-establishment of good government because 
there has been an obvious suspension of it in the City of St. Louis, 
for which the city is not wholly to blame. The evils of the city 



MISSOURI'S BATTLE WITH THE BOODLERS. 119 

were unquestionably great before the state increased them by mis- 
designed legislation, but the increase has rendered them mon- 
strous and insufferable. 

''New York, Philadelphia, Chicago and Pittsburg have their 
plug-uglies and repeaters, but not organized into a provost mar- 
shalship of anarchy that turns ballot boxes and city treasuries over 
to their rule and commands their assault upon honest citizenship 
that will not brook their reign of political terror. It is no exag- 
geration to say that elections in St. Louis do not indicate the will 
of the people. The citizen is either frightened from the polls or 
goes to them with the certainty that his vote will not count against 
the purpose of the terror-reign to keep itself in power and to use 
its power for the robbery of the city's wealth. 

"No department of the city government is better supported 
than the police department. The people, therefore, are entitled 
to protection. The city's institutions of charity, however, resemble 
hovels more than homes. Cramped and makeshift hospitals, in- 
sane asylums that are themselves half-insane for want of proper 
room and service, almshouses that mingle the poor with the mad, 
as if to make the poor mad and the mad madder with neglect, at- 
test the extent of the robbery that rewards the chartered boodler 
and thug. 

"Of course, so bitter a curse could not have come upon our 
city without some deep, inveterate guilt of its own. For twenty 
years and more it had been careless of its franchises. They had 
been bought and sold in regular market. The market was at first 
secret, but grew open with the courage of custom, until little or 
no pains were taken to conceal its traffic. 

POLITICAL BUYERS WEALTHY. 

"The buyers were citizens of wealth — presidents and directors 
of corporations — whose prominence lent respectability to the cor- 
ruption they engaged in ; and the corruption became more and 
more respectable with the greater prominence its additions of ill- 
got wealth gave to the corporation presidents and directors who 
abetted it. The brigandage thus gradually formed was not parti- 
san. It used both parties for its plunder ends. It organized an 
unpartisan party of its own that gained sufficient strength to hold 
the balance of power and bring other parties to terms. Its terms 



120 POLITICAL THUGGERY. 

were always a trade, and its trade always secured to its band their 
privilege of boodle. But for the complicity of certain of our 
richest men and the mercantile coteries they control, these pro- 
fessional boodlers, who were mostly barkeepers, could never have 
intrenched themselves in offices whose niggard pay they would 
not have thought worth their trouble to earn or seek. Their can- 
didacy was a candidacy for boodle, and the beneficiaries of boodle 
supplied the money and indorsement that elected them. And still 
it is these same bei'teficiaries who stand between them and the jail 
doors while they scofif at the threats of a justice that can im- 
prison their felony without exposing the felony of palaces where 
civic honor is supposed to have its throne. 

TIME TO OUST BRIGANDS. 

"After twenty years of occupancy it could not be pastime to 
oust these political and commercial brigands from their official 
intrenchment. Twenty years of dead-letter law. Twenty years 
of dying and well-nigh dead civic honor. Twenty years of po- 
litical vice, so commonly accepted as to lose the memory or hope 
of virtue. Twenty years in which a generation of young men 
have grown up under lofty examples of corruption to low and 
mean ideals of citizenship. Many persons have been indicted, 
but the policy has seemingly been to delay prosecutions, to hamper 
them and thwart them. The plan has been to get continuances, 
and demurrers and alibi witnesses; to fix juries to hang, if they 
will not acquit. Else appeal, in order that years may go by be- 
fore decisions reverse and demand sentences for new trials that 
can drag their slow course on until the new machine-prosecutor 
comes to set the captives free. Capital plan, and so far it has 
been carried out without a slip. Seventeen boodlers convicted 
and not one in stripes. Five decisions from the supreme court 
and every decision a remanding, or a reversing with dismissal. 

"Nor have your criminals, good people of Missouri, been 
less sure of escape than ours. You, too, have had brigands. 
They held the highest offices in your gift, next to the governor- 
ship. Their arms have gone to the elbows in your pockets. They 
have systematically bartered your legislation. For ten years or 
more they have waylaid and sand-bagged all bills that had hope 
of profit. Their sales in open assembly were loud enough for 



MISSOURI'S BATTLE WITH THE BOODLERS. 121 

cattle auctions. They have been exposed and tried, but no trial 
has reached conviction. They are senators still — senators of the 
commonwealth of Missouri, if they do not hold still loftier places. 
You are indignant at their betrayal of your trust, but your in- 
dignation can not even clap them in jail, to await the sentence they 
deserve. They are as free as your honest selves — as free and 
proud as if you had already re-elected them for demonstrated and 
illustrious honesty. 

''It is a common cause, therefore, yours and ours — a common 
injury, with a common inability to punish and repair it. But this 
is not all. In so far as our guilt may seem greater, it is because 
of the greater injury we suffer through laws you have bound 
us with as with chains of iron. These are your excise and elec- 
tion laws. 

CONTROLLED BY ONE MAN. 

"Your excise law put the licensing of all saloons and wine- 
rooms into the hands of one man. The Excise Commissioner 
has almost arbitrary power in the issuing or withholding of li- 
censes. There are now over 2500 saloons in our city. No nook 
of social life is safe from their peril. They laugh at all laws en- 
acted for their restraint. They not only entrap the youth who 
enter them, but lure reluctant entrance with song and dance. Girls 
no less than boys are their victims, and when passion is hot and 
reason reckless with wine there are in many of them secret rooms 
ready for the consummation of the ruin the winecup begins. Their 
victims count by the thousand every year. 

"Every saloon in the city must do partisan work in exchange 
for the privilege of corruption it enjoys. The saloonkeeper, as a 
rule, must himself be a party boss of some degree and get about 
him a gang of bummers for election uses. The so-called Indians 
are simply saloon gangs. It was a group of such gangs led by 
a boss saloon gangster that throttled the citizenship of the Twenty- 
eighth ward two weeks ago. What they did in the Twenty-eighth 
ward they have been doing in the outer wards of the city for many 
years. 

"With 2000 ward and precinct bosses ready to do the bidding, 
however criminal, of those above them, you can see what an 
array of brute-might threatens the order and liberty of the city. 



122 POLITICAL THUGGERY. 

Brute-might without curb of fear! Brute-might assured of im- 
munity ! So far the assurance has proved good. Frauds of 
registration, frauds of balloting, frauds in the judges' returns, 
frauds in the ultimate count, when they can be concealed in no 
other way, can and will be concealed by riot that confuses on- 
lookers and thus escapes detection. 

PUNISH THE LEADERS. 

"The issue now is whether after two years' effort to punish 
the commanders in chief, in the city and in the State, which have 
so far failed, the Commonwealth of Missouri is ready to sur- 
render its government to their seizure. We say to you frankly, 
our best people are alarmed at recent exhibitions of lawlessness in 
St. Louis. 

*'Was there no anarchic symptom in the outbreak of two 
weeks ago — no connection between it and the immunity similar 
crimes, though less flagrant, have so far had in spite of all the 
efforts of good citizens to bring them to punishment? Nothing 
of the sort had ever been witnessed in the Twenty-eighth ward 
before. Hoodlumism had confined its previous adventures to re- 
gions where it was at home. It required unwonted hardihood to 
invade the ward of the largest taxpayers and most intelligent citi- 
zens and thug them away from the polls where they quietly waited 
to vote. The choice of victims betray^ed the spirit of the invasion. 
The thugs had evidently been taught that every well-dressed man, 
every man who had a mind in his face, every gray-haired man 
who looked as if he had come to the place from a sense of duty, 
was to be taken for a friend of law and therefore knocked out of 
line or knocked senseless to the ground. 

GIVE WAY TO IMPORTED BRAWLERS. 

"Think of it, people of Missouri ! Citizens crowded out of 
their own polling places to make way for imported brawlers ; tax- 
payers, paying thousands of dollars each year for good govern- 
ment, driven back from the ballot while their tax money went to 
the boodlers and the bravos these boodlers employed to make 
official plunder more secure ; all the condition of impunity stand- 
ing round to encourage the saloon gangs in their work, even the 



MISSOURI'S BATTLE WITH THE BOODLERS. 123 

police with their backs turned on the violence, when they did not 
themselves take part in its meanest deeds. 

"The conduct of two Saturdays ago was simply the culmina- 
tion of a course begun four years ago and persisted in through 
all the elections since. More grand juries than the one presided 
over by Isaac Morton, who afterwards became a member of the 
city council, have vividly painted the recurrent outrages and the 
humiliation of the city that has had to endure them. Still, no 
policeman that we have heard of has been dismissed from the 
force on their account. 

'TIow long, righteous people of Missouri, shall these out- 
rages last in your name ? How long shall Missouri pinion the 
city which should be your sovereign pride, that boodlers and bar- 
room ruffians and ruffian policemen may insult her and trample 
upon her and rob her of the wealth which is yours as well as 
ours? How long will it be before the desperadoes who have 
already reached the Twenty-eighth ward and buccaneered beyond 
the city limits shall advance still further into the country? Are 
you ready to meet them in Jefferson City and be thugged out of 
your own convention by the trainloads that may as well go there 
as to Clayton? And will you then flatter yourselves still that 
you, any more than we, are American freemen ? 

DESTRUCTION OF SUFFRAGE. 

'Troud people of Missouri, look to your suffrage. It has 
already ceased to count. If the spurious majorities of three board- 
ridden cities can overbalance the real majority of the whole out- 
side state against them, what does your free ballot signify? Is 
not the false city count as complete a destruction of your suffrage 
as if the Indians themselves went to your townships and bat- 
tered you out of your rights in front of your farmhouses ? Make 
your majority 50,000 over the counter majority of the cities, the 
cities can outreckon it as easily as they may outreckon 10,000 — 
can and will. 

'Ts it strange, then, that in our distress we appeal to you — 
you who have brought it upon us, and will yourselves have to 
share it in time, unless together we can now — for it is now or 
never — strike the blow that shall make us free ? By ourselves we 
citizens of St. Louis are impotent. Our speeches, our resolutions. 



3 24 POLITICAL THUGGERY. 



d 



our grand jury findings, are of no avail ; as well try to cure hydro- 
phobia with shower-baths. 

"In every primary election let your voice be heard. The 
people are tired of corruption and brutality. ' 

"Missouri is a State of honest men and shall be honestly 
governed. 

'Tt is a State of sober men^ and shall not be dominated 
by sots. 

"It is a State of industrious men, who want no reckless gamb- 
ling habits among its officials, no "stand-pat" legislators or legis- 
lation. 

"It is a State of clean men, who do not propose to wink at 
libidinous traps set to catch their sons and daughters in the great 
city where they would go often, but can not go now without 
danger of being entrapped at every step. 

"It is a State of Christian men who think their religion has 
something to do with earth as well as with heaven, and are re- 
solved to tolerate no political hells under tHe eaves of their 
churches. 

"It is a State of brave men, who, when they know they have 
been trifled with, carry enough of God's wrath in their consciences 
to hold an instant judgment day, and hurl the triflers into oblivion 
that yawns for them as rightly its own. 

"So, command, oh, brave Christian men of Missouri, and 
may God empower you to see that the command is obeyed !" 

[Signed] 
Robert A. Holland, W. J. Williamson, 

Rector St. George's Church. Pastor Third Baptist Church. 
Edmund Duckworth, M. Rhodes^ 

Rector St. James Episcopal Pastor St. Mark's Lutheran 
Church. Church. 

Carroll M. Davis, J. F. Cannon, 

Dean Christ Church Ca- Pastor Grand Ave. Presby- 
thedral. terian Church. 

James W. Lee, B. P. Fullerton, 

Pastor St. John's M. E. Pastor Lucas Ave. Cumber- 
Church, South. land Presbyterian Church. 
N. Luccock, 

Pastor Union M. E. Church. 



MISSOURI'S BATTLE WITH THE BOODLERS. 125 

F. G. Tyrrell, C. H. Patton, 

Pastor Mount Cabanne Chris- Pastor First Congregational 

tian Church. Church. 

C. W. Webdell, F. W. Luce, 

Pastor St. Paul's M. E. Pastor Maple Ave. M. E. 

Church, South. Church. 

L. E. Ladd, M. Burnham, 

Pastor First M. E. Church, Pastor Pilgrim Congrega- 

South. fional Church. 

J. H. Young, C. R. Carlos, 

Pastor Wagoner Place M. E. Presiding Elder St. Louis 

Church, South. District M. E. Church. 

L. T. McCann, F. W. Simpson, 

Pastor Bridgeton M. E. Pastor Bowman M. E. 

Church, South. Church. 

A. Mather, Ralph Wakefield, 

Pastor Immanuel M. E. Pastor Tower Grove M. E. 
Church, South. Church. 

Charles M. Rauch, H. L. Stevens, 

Pastor Cote Brilliante Pres- Pastor Trinity M. E. Church, 
byterian Church. R. G. Smith, 

L. H. Dorchester, Pastor Baden M. E. Church. 

Pastor Lindell Ave. M. E. H. C. Leonard, 

Church. Pastor Harlem Place M. E. 

W. J. McKittrick, Church. 

Pastor First Presbyterian y^ ^ Curi 
Church. p^g^^j. Qif^Qj^ Heights M. 

H. H. Gregg, ^ ^^^^^^^ 

Pastor Compton and Wash- . ^^ tt 

ington Aves. Presbyterian "^'J^' ^ughey. 
Church Pastor Rock Hill Presby- 

M. E. Williams, ^^"^^ Church. 

Editorial Writer, Presbyter- J- C. Horning, 
ian Church. Pastor Maple Avenue Re- 

B. H. Charles, formed Church. 
Pastor Brank Memorial Pres- T. Haggerty, 

byterian Church. Chaplain. 



126 POLITICAL THUGGERY. 

James T. Coffey, J. H. Gauss, 

Pastor St. Leo's Catholic Pastor Carondelet Presby- 

Church. terian Church. 

John L. Brandt, Wm. A. Hatch, 

Pastor First Christian Pastor Holy Innocent 

Church. Church. 

Howard T. Cree, J. n. Beall, 

Pastor Central Christian Pastor McCausland * Ave. 

Church. Presbyterian Church. 

E. T. McFarland, a. M. Campbell, 

Pastor Fourth Christian Pastor Wagoner PI. United 

Church. Presbyterian Church. 

S. B. Moore, Chas. L. Chalfant, 

Pastor Hammet Place Chris- pastor Grace Presbyterian 

tian Church. Church. 

G. E. Ireland, Cecil V Cook 

Pastor Carondelet Christian p^^^^^' ^^^; ^^^^ ^ 

^ ^^^'''^- Church. 

F.J.Nichols Wm. Schutz, 

Pastor Hamilton Ave. Chris- p^^^^^ ^^^j^^^^^ ^ ^ ^^^^^^ 

tian Church. ^ ^^^^^^ 

G. A. Hoffman, td \ r-^ \ tv/t i- r-u i. 

T-, ^ TV 4^ 1 A r-u ' ^' Pastor Clayton M. E. Church, 

Pastor Maplewood Christian o .i • 

^, I. South. 

Church. 17 T T> 

J. H. Garrison, E. J. Brown 

Editor Christian Evangelist. ^^f °^ ^^'^^^"^ ^f ^^^^s Pres- 

W. E. Garrison, bytenan Church. 

Assistant Editor Christian W. D. Bradfield, 

Evang-elist Pastor Cook Ave. M. E. 

E. B. Reed, ' Church. 

Supt. Masonic Home of Mo. J- Layton Mauze, 

S. F. Dubois, Pastor Central Presbyterian 

Pastor First United Presby- Church, 

terian Church. Henry Gardner, 

B. E. Reed, Pastor Lee Ave. Presbyterian 

Pastor Grace Episcopal. Church. 

Church. H. Magill, 

David S. Wahl, Pastor Memorial Tabernacle 

Pastor Eden M. E. Church. Presbyterian Church. 



MISSOURI'S BATTLE WITH THE BOODLERS. 



127 



Charles F. Blaidsdell^ 

Pastor Church of the Holy 
Communion. 
Geo, E. Bates, 

Pastor Church of the Cove- 
nant. 
L. H. Williams, 

Pastor Water Tower Baptist 
Church, 
Chas, a, Nussbaum, 

Pastor First German Church 
of the New Jerusalem, 
G. D. B. Miller, 

Pastor St, Augustine Church, 

C. W, Watts, 

Pastor Carondelet Baptist 
Church, 
Samuel Sales, 
Pastor Shaare Emeth Hebrew 
Church. 
Z.J. Rosenfeld, 

Pastor Sheerith S'phard (He- 
brew Cong.) 

L. PULLIAM, 

Pastor M. E. Church, South. 
M. J. Breaker, 

Baptist Home and Foreign 
Missions. 

D. Everett Standard, 
Pastor St. Luke's M. E. 

Church. 
S. Howard Smith, 

Pastor North Cabanne Pres- 
byterian Church. 
John W. Day, 

Pastor Church of Messiah. 
Wm. F. Peck, 

Pastor First Church of Spir- 
itual Unity. 



G, A. Hoffman, 

Christian Publishing Co, 
James W, Bloyd, 

Pastor Church of God. 

Louis S. BOWERMAN, 

Pastor Immanuel Baptist 
Church. 
F. H. AuF Der Heide, 

Pastor Walnut Park Presby- 
terian Church, 
Paul Pfeifer, 

Pastor Eden Evangelical 
Church, 
Frank L. Brock, 

Pastor Christian Catholic 
Church, 

J. G, GUYTON, 

1612 Morgan St. 
Arthur Fischer, 

Pastor Evangelical Ebenezer 
Church. 
M. Duchon, 

Pastor Holy Trinity Catholic 
Church. 
Walter M. Langtry, 

Pastor Clayton Presbyterian 
Church. 
Frank Lonsdale, 

Pastor Reber PL Congrega- 
tional Church. 

J. TWYMAN BOYER, 

Pastor Cook Ave. Presby- 
terian Church. 
A. B. Barnett, 

Pastor Meramec Heights 
Church, 
Ed. L. Bleibtreu, 

Pastor German Ev. Church. 



128 



POLITICAL THUGGERY. 



W. SCHWING, 

Pastor German M. E. Church. 
E. L. Hill, 

Pastor Fourth Bap. Church. 
Philip W. Yarrow, 

Pastor OHve Branch Cong. 
Church. 
J. R. Winchester, 

Pastor Church of the Ascen- 
sion. 
Taylor Bernard, 

Pastor Cumberland Presby- 
terian Church. 

E. T. COYNER. 

Pastor Mt. Calvary Ev. Luth. 
Church. 



J. J. Fink, 

Pastor German Evangelical 
Church. 
S. E. Ewing, 

Pastor Euclid Ave. Baptist 
Church. 

J. C. Armstrong, 

Editor Central Baptist. 

S. C. Palmer, 

Pastor Lafayette Park Pres- 
byterian Church. 

S. R. Lindsey, 

Pastor Presbyterian Church. 
Rev. J. F. Froeschle, 
Rev. R. E. Gilleen, 



Chapter IX. 
THE VOICE OF THE PRESS. 



Yoti have only to make your municipal corporation like your 
business corporations and you have solved the problem. You need 
not say that that cannot be done. It cannot be done by t^hriee\ 
cheers and a brass band. It cannot be done by newspaper edi-\ 
torials three zueeks before election. It can be done by beating the 
politicians at their 'ozvn game. Their game is organization. — St. 
Clair McKehvay. 

The most inviting Held of reform in this country at the pres- 
ent time is that of the enforcement' of the criminal laws. As things 
noiv stand, the law-breakers have all the advantages, and the law- 
abiders are taxed to pay for a kind of justice that is a notorious 
travesty. — St. Louis Globe-Democrat. 



CHAPTER IX. 



THE VOICE OF THE PRESS. 

A GRAVE ISSUE — ST. LOUIS OR THUGVILLE^ WHICH FOLKS SWEEP- 
ING VINDICATION AN EASY ROAD FOR BIG CHEATS LET 

CITIZENSHIP TAKE THE INITIATIVE THE CHATSWORTH 

HALL PROTEST PUBLIC ACTION FOR CLEAN PRIMARIES, — IS 

IT TO BE A SHAM BATTLE SEVENTEEN NEW INDICTMENTS 

IN "INDIAN" CASES THE OPINION OF HORACE FLACK AN 

EASTERN VIEW OF FOLK's FIGHT FOLK AND THE MACHINE. 



The press is the great agent of publicity. This fact alone 
gives it enormous power, and when^ in addition to the leverage 
of the printing press, there is back of it editorial courage and 
manliness, one cannot set bounds to its influence. 

It is no exaggeration to say that the Argus-eyed press 
gave the first clue to corruption and that it has constantly been 
a potent factor in the work of prosecution. 

We insert this chapter of extracts from the press of Mis- 
souri and other States as a just acknowledgment of our indebt- 
edness to the various papers, and to give symmetry to this 
book, for without such a chapter it would be incomplete. 

A GRAVE ISSUE. 

No good citizen can read the story of the Democratic pri- 
maries in St. Louis last Saturday without recognizing that a 
new issue has been created, of graver character and higher 
importance than any question of partisan politics. The story 
of the day is a tale of outrage and infamy — outrage completely 
thwarting private right and personal liberty; infamy loading 
the police authorities with disgrace. 

It is impossible to speak of the day's occurrences with 
moderate phrases. They require strong language, and no 
words can exaggerate the gravity of the issue St. Louis faces. 
It would have been sufficiently serious if the police had simply 
been unable to repress the riotous proceedings of the organized 
gangs of ruffians that invaded the West End precincts. But 



132 POLITICAL THUGGERY. 

the seriousness of the situation is greatly increased by the 
overwhelming mass of evidence showing that the police will- 
ingly permitted many outrages to go unrebuked, if they did 
not actually and actively assist the ruffians who committed them.l 

There is no chance to question the fact that the imported! 
rowdies who ran amuck continuously for six long hours in the! 
Twenty-Eighth Ward had the sympathy and protection of the 
police who were stationed at its two polls. Citizens who were 
shoved and beaten and slugged in their efforts to faithfully 
execute a high civic duty appealed in vain for police protection. 
Voters who were personally known to the officers found their 
appeals as absolutely futile as those who were unknown, and 
the word seems to have been passed around that a man with a 
clean shirt or a decent coat was to be accorded no rights unless 
he was known to carry a Hawes ballot. 

Mr. Hawes and the leaders who are associated with him, ' 
as well as the Board of Police Commissioners and the Chief 
of Police, must meet the full load of responsibility the riotous 
scenes of Saturday impose upon them. It will not avail to 
deny the rioting and the outrage. It was witnessed by too 
many people and is denounced by too many Democrats with 
lifelong records of party loyalty. It will not avail to disap-, 
prove and condemn. The riot at the Clayton primary put 
everyone on guard, and the duty of Mr. Hawes, of his friends! 
and of the police authorities, who were thus forewarned, was! 
to take effective precautions to prevent similar occurrences 
at the St. Louis primaries. Sins of omission may be no less 
grave than those of commission. 

In the new and dominant issue thus forced to the front, 
the people of Alissouri, the people of the whole State, are no 
less concerned than are the people of St. Louis itself. With 
personal liberty at an end and free suffrage lost in St. Louis, 
the State is in gravest danger The riot of misrule and dis- 
order here carries iii delegates into each State Convention 
to misrepresent St. Louis and mislead the State Democracy. 
It remains to be seen whether the Democracy of Missouri is. 
willing to confirm this domination of rowdies and ruffians. — St. 
Louis Republic, March 14, 1904. 

Mr. Folk single-handed undertook the work of ridding 
St. Louis of boodlers. He instituted grand jury inquiries 
which- resulted in the exposure of gigantic and unthinkable 
corruption. He went into the courts and prosecuted the 

I 
,1 



134 POLITICAL THUGGERY. 

offenders the grand juries indicted, and out of twenty-one jury 
trials he secured nineteen convictions. His work in St. Louis 
inspired the work that has been done in Jefferson City. He, 
with slight encouragement and against almost insuperable 
odds, revealed to Missouri the State's pitiable condition. He, 
with Spartan courage, has done a work that is of immeasura- 
ble benefit to the State and its citizens. Honest citizens, justly 
indignant because their confidence had been imposed upon, 
demanded of him that he become a candidate for governor. 
He protested, begged that he be allowed to retire to private 
life, but to no avail. Finally he yielded, and today he is asking 
honest Democrats to nominate him for governor. 

Folk has been abused, lied upon and villified. His life has 
been threatened. Every possible pressure has been brought 
to bear to make him let up in his prosecutions. His bitterest 
detractors have been those who are candidates against him. 
Today — most unusual and undemocratic circumstance — there 
is a sentiment in the state that favors anybody to beat 
Folk. The High-binders of politics, the self-seeking, time- 
serving parasites in and out of office — all — are fighting him 
viciously and vindictively. Three candidates are announced 
against him, and yet not in one single county has more than 
one of them appeared as opposing him. What is that but con- 
spiracy? We find practically every state official and every 
appointee under the state administration fighting him. — Fulton 
(Mo.) Gazette. 

ST. LOUIS OR THUGVILLE, WHICH? 

Decent Democrats and all other St. Louisans have now 
clear proof of the methods and the men who are opposed to 
Folk, and of what a vote for anti-Folk ticket signifies. 

The murderous scenes enacted in several parts of the 
city, notably in the Twenty-Eighth Ward, show to what 
extremes the gang of men will go to defeat the cause of Good 
Government. 

In that ward alone nearly loo murderous assaults were 
committed upon decent citizens, many of them aged and gray- 
haired, who were standing in line waiting to cast their ballots 
under the law. 

The reason why this ward was made the principal battle- 
ground was that it was one of the wards that could not be 
''fixed." A majority of the downtown and the north and south 



MISSOURI'S BATTLE WITH THE BOODLERS. 135 

voting districts were supposed to be "dead sure," and as a con- 
sequence the thugs and murderers who operate with the 
Machine were not needed there. 

The Machine programme was to so manipulate the elec- 
tion for effect through the State as to make the results show 
that Folk could not carry a ward in the city. 

The Twenty-Eighth was one spot which was feared as 
fatal to this programme. 

For this reason there was more murderous slugging there 
than elsewhefe. 

The persistent and most shameful feature of the whole 
day's brutality was that not a single arrest was made for this 
thuggery at the polls. 

^ 5i< I^ ?fC 5Js 

The citizens of St. Louis are long-sufferers, but they are 
face to face with a situation in which they cannot hesitate. 

Thanks and congratulations are due the Republic from all 
decent citizens for the vigorous and impartial manner in which 
it is exposing the murderous tactics of the anti-Folk thugs at 
the primaries on Saturday and the criminal negligence of the 
police. The Republic's details and statements of eye-witnesses 
on Monday contains little that was not gathered up in The 
Sunday Star, but the publication of such testimony in a 
Democratic newspaper, after full verification over Sunday, 
robs the machine gang of its only possible and oft-repeated 
defense — that the stories were the stock-in-trade of Republican 
publications. 

The Republic has rendered incalculable service to the 
cause of Good Government. It has placed the evidence of 
thuggery at the polls and its toleration by the police squarely 
before the Governor and the people of the State. 

It has either forced the Governor to immediately call to 
account all his police officials, high or low, who connived at 
the outrages, or it has placed the Chief Executive of Missouri 
high up in the pillory of official shame and disgrace. — St. Louis 
Star, March 14, 1904. 

Numerous Democrats were assaulted at their primary last 
Saturday for the crime of trying to exercise the right of 
suffrage. It was a vile outrage and crime, like hundreds of the 
same kind committed on Republicans by the same set of 
scoundrels. One paper, in a gust of belated wrath, declares 




J 36 POLITICAL THUGGERY. 

that ''In the new and dominant issue thus forced to the front, 
the people of Missouri, the people of the whole State, are no 
less concerned than are the people of St. Louis." The "new" 
issue ! What is new about it except that Democrats are now 
victims, as Republicans have been for five years? Grand 
juries have described it. Thousands of pages of sworn evi- 
dence in the Jim Butler contests relate to it. Newspapers dis- 
posed to be fair have recorded thousands of cases in which 
criminals were violating election laws and gloating in their 
supremacy. Republicans tried to contest the fraudulent elec- 
tions and were told by the state supreme court that the ballot 
boxes must not be opened for examination and comparison. 
If Indians were arrested, they were quickly released. Not 
one has ever been punished. — St. Louis Globe-Democrat, March 
15, 1904. 

FOLK'S SWEEPING VINDICATION. 

Just now a big, salubrious, refreshing drama is happening 
in Missouri which bids fair to dwarf the Exposition with which 
St. Louis is about to dazzle the nations. The people of that state, 
in defiance of the rumbling of the party machine and the crack 
of the party whip, are showing their appreciation of clean-cut 
public methods and a sanitary administration of the law by in- 
dorsing for Governor Joseph W. Folk, the arch-enemy of the 
boodlers. 

Their action is an inspiration and an example to the rest of 
the country. Coming as it does at a time when mayors and 
governors on every hand are openly acknowledging the presence 
of graft and confessing themselves powerless in its sinister pres- 
ence, it is bound to exert a far-reaching influence in the dispelling 
of this humiliating phantasm. With the career of Folk the ma- 
jority of our readers are thoroughly familiar. * "^ * 

That the people of Missouri have rallied splendidly to his 
support in the pending gubernatorial campaign is a lasting testi- 
monial to the sanity of American voters in politics. The machine 
politicians, among whose ranks are numbered the most prominent 
state and federal office holders, have thrown their entire tre- 
mendous force against his candidacy; but Folk is triumphing. 
Sufficient counties have taken action to indicate, practically be- 



MISSOURI'S BATTLE WITH THE BOODLERS. 137 

vond peradventure, the trend of the state, and even his oppon- 
ents are admitting his success and scrambhng for the band-wagon. 

The pessimist who croaks that the political judgment of the 
American people is not to be trusted, or that they will not indorse 
a cleanly administration of public affairs even at the expense of 
entrenched power, has only to look to Missouri for a refutation 
of his bilious doctrines. — The Atlanta Constitution. 

The astounding fact is that Folk is under fire because he 
did his duty. One might have supposed that when a Demo- 
cratic officer had fulfilled his oath of office with fidelity and 
a moral and physical courage that caused the admiration of 
the whole civilized world, and that gave more credit to Mis- 
souri than any other incident in its history, there would have 
been a unanimous impulse to do honor to that Democrat. One 
would have thought that every chivalrous instinct would have 
prompted support to the faithful servant of Missouri. But, 
instead of that, jealousy, envy and fear have united selfish 
politicians into the most astounding, inexcusable and dis- 
graceful fight on Joseph Folk that any political records in 
Missouri or any other state can show. The power and indig- 
nation which, by every consideration of decency, should be 
directed against the boodlers have been levelled at the prose- 
cutor of boodlers. 

But the spirit of the man who dares to attack corruption 
in its high places, who engages with absolute honesty to make 
Missouri respected and honored — that is the spirit which the 
plain people of this state want to animate and pervade the 
administration of Missouri. And that is why the game of "one 
against the crowd" will have an entirely different aspect when 
the people take a part in it. — Kansas City Star, Feb. 9, 1904. 

The thoughtful Lamar Democrat says : "Every day that 
nov\^ passes over Mr. Folk's head, his strength is falling away 
from him. The bandwagon has already been wheeled back 
into the shed, and the horses are being hitched to the hearse. 
The time has not yet come in the state of Missouri, when a 
man can get a Democratic nomination for the highest office 
within the gift of the people by going out and attacking his 
party." — Nevada (Mo.) Mail, Feb. 26, 1904. 



138 POLITICAL THUGGERY. 

(Mr. Folk carried Vernon County at the primary election 
by an astonishing and overwhelming majority, in spite of such 
papers as the Mail and Democrat.) 

AN EASY ROAD FOR BIG CHEATS. 

There is news from Albany that powerful' influences are at 
work to prevent a legislative investigation of the United States 
Ship-building scandal. Since the astounding disclosures of 
organized rapacity and rascality made at the hearings in this 
city, a legislative investigation is not needed to show that 
somebody ought to go to jail for this gold-brick game played 
as "high finance" in Wall street. But the powers possessed by 
a committee of the Legislature would be so much greater 
that it could unquestionably bring to light facts and fix the 
responsibility far more completely than the referee in this 
case was able to do. 

It is to be hoped, therefore, in the interest of justice, that 
Governor Odell will carry out his purpose of causing a thor- 
ough investigation of the Ship-building scandal. 

Meantime the apparent immunity of everybody connected 
with this "promotion" of robbery, from even the fear of 
prosecution, suggests the question whether the District Attor- 
ney has discharged his duty and improved his opportunity in 
this matter as he ought to have done. The net of justice 
should not be for little fishes only. In England, Whitaker 
Wright, whose transactions were not unlike those of various 
"promoters" in this country, was convicted and sentenced to 
penal servitude, though he had enjoyed the confidence and 
perhaps had helped to fill the purses of men of high rank. 
Is justice less sure for big swindlers in democratic America? 

In his recent travels, Mr. Jerome made a passing study 
of the administration of the criminal law in Chicago. Might 
he not have found a more instructive, and inspiring lesson in 
St. Louis, where Prosecuting Attorney Folk has secured con- 
victions for bribery and corruption that have carried dismay 
into the highest political circles? 

New York will not secure respect for the law and confi- 
dence in its administration by raiding poolrooms and har- 
assing ordinary gamblers, while permitting the highly respectable 
''financiers," who are responsible for a colossal fraud and scandal 
like the Ship-Building Trust, to find a smooth path to forgetful- 
ness. — Nezv York World, February i8, 1904. 



MISSOURI'S BATTLE WITH THE BOODLERS. 139 

Rowdyism must be stamped out of St. Louis politics. 
That it shall be stamped out is the will of the citizen. St. 
Louis can pronounce the doom of rowdyism, which has defi- 
nitely assumed the form of a thing intolerable under the con- 
ditions of American life. Rowdyism is not made of the stufiS 
which survives. It could never arrive at the dignity of 

LET CITIZENSHIP TAKE THE INITIATIVE. 

supremacy. It could never rule as against the strength of 
reputable citizenship. Its domination is temporary and it 
is never so near its doom as when it exhibits extravagantly its 
menace, as at the primaries of last Saturday. Then it boldly 
challenges the opposition of the real power in the community. 
It wins once at the cost of going out hereafter. 

The will of the city must show itself in activity. Thurs- 
day night's meeting of seventeen hundred men at Chatsworth 
Hall signally attests the spirit of the municipality. The seven- 
teen hundred included foremost citizens, men representative 
of every sphere of influence, men. who ordinarily accomplish 
w^hat they set out to accomplish. They are not of the sort 
who content themselves with denunciation. We have the 
promise of further and larger meetings and of competent 
organization to combat the thug influence. 

Citizens act wisely in trusting to their own strength to 
repress and eradicate the evil. Officials may do all in their 
power, but, whether they do or not, the surest guaranty lies 
in the real power of citizenship, the people themselves. As a 
last resort the people may be depended upon to stop thug 
manipulation at the polls, when they so will. 

In the interim politics itself furnishes a handy remedy. 
Let both parties unite upon an elimination, of Indian influence 
and thug tactics, and we shall find no manifestations of them 
to compare with that of last Saturday. It is true that in a few 
downtown wards the reputable elements in either party can 
scarcely cope with thuggery at this time. But the reputable 
elements by uniting upon some measures may guard the 
remainder of, the city against intrusion, may confine rowdyism 
within its own few precincts and reduce it to a minimum. 
Indeed it is within the possibilities to eradicate it completely by 
a consolidated bipartisan effort. 

The minor party machinery with which rowdyism is con- 
cerned must have a relation to the higher and broader machin- 



140 POLITICAL THUGGERY. 

ery. Rowdyism can only operate by grace of consent or by 
toleration by those in control of the upper machinery. Rowdy- 
ism, w^hich is unpartisan, holds its lease in perforce of its 
threat to work for the opposition, and as long as the opposition 
holds out a bid for its services the threat has force. When 
neither party will under any circtnnstances stoop to employ 
it, rowdyism loses its political market-value. 

To put it out of business should be made a bi-partisan 
aim, and a pan-partisan issue. 

The issue is broader than a factional contention or a mat- 
ter between party and party, and there is no just or logical 
consideration which should prevent Republicans and Demo- 
crats joining in what must prove a sure check to their common 
enemy. Neither party can with plausibility make political 
capital out of the shifting relationships which the thug element 
imposes upon organizations within either fold. Neither party 
can afford to make rowdyism a mere matter of reproach, in 
the light of recent St. Louis history. There are Republican 
primaries as well as Democratic. To raise the hue and cry 
against Indianism purely for partisan advantage indicates 
nothing so much as the disposition to make use of the very 
same element when occasion offers. Both parties should take 
high ground, should meet upon a sane and the only sane and 
sure political remedy. — St. Louis Republic, March 19, 1904. 

THE CHATSWORTH HALL PROTEST. 

The resolutions adopted by the meeting of protest at 
Chatsworth Hall Thursday evening voice the sentiments of 
every good citizen of Missouri, regardless of political or fac- 
tional diiferences. The cause represented by the men who 
denounced the conduct of the Democratic 'Tndians" and pro- 
tested against the laws of the state, which make election steal- 
ing possible, and the methods of the Democratic machine 
bosses, should be disassociated from the candidacy of any 
one man or the interests of any faction. It is a common cause 
upon whigli all good citizens should unite. The issue 
embodied in the resolution is clear and simple. It involves 
the question of the right and power of voters to cast their 
ballots without molestation and to have them counted. It 
involves the question of the right of citizens to protection from 
violence kt the polls. It involves the question of the protection 
of the ballot box from fraud and crime. 



MlSSOURrS BATTLE WITH THE BOODLERS. 141 

There is no doubt about the outrages committed at the 
Democratic primaries. Democratic citizens of the highest 
character and standing have testified to them. Eminently 
respectable citizens, including well-known lawyers, judges, 
physicians and merchants, were either victims or eye-witnesses 
of the outrages. The outrages consisted of unprovoked 
assaults in which voters were jostled out of the lines, knocked 
down, beaten and kicked ; of repeating and personating voters 
and of backdoor voting. The assaults were committed in the 
most respectable neighborhoods, upon peaceful, law-abiding- 
citizens, whose sole offense was an attempt to vote contrary 
to the will of the hoodlums. 

These crimes and outrages strike at the foundation of 
government. It is useless to talk of any right unless the funda- 
mental right to vote is assured. It is useless to talk of making 
laws or enforcing laws, if elections can be controlled by fraud 
and violence. The ballot box is the source of all good laws, 
of all good government. Unless citizens are protected in their 
right to vote as they choose, good government Is impossible. 
The government is turned over to the control of the most 
vicious elements. 

The blow struck at the purity of the ballot box at the 
Democratic primaries, menacing the rights of citizens to cast 
their votes without intimidation or fraud, was a blow at every 
citizen in Missouri. It was a blow at the rights of all citizens, 
of all parties. This issue overshadows all other issues. It must 
be settled right before any other issues can be settled. 

If the Democrats who adopted the resolutions denouncing 
the methods of the machine bosses mean anything by these 
resolutions, their struggle will not cease until the rights they 
demand are accorded them and the laws they insist upon are 
passed and enforced. They will not permit any more party 
or factional interest to stand in the way of their efforts to 
secure honest elections and the right of every citizen to vote 
in peace according to his will. — St. Louis Post-Dispatch, March 
19, 1904. 

PUBLIC ACTION FOR CLEAN PRIMARIES. 

Friday's Republican primaries abundantly illustrate the 
necessity for united action against rowdyism, which necessity 
the Republic again urges upon both parties. Republicans in 
the Seventh Ward saw an exhibition of Indian operations of 
a kind with the Republican primary outrages of two years 



142 POLITICAL THUGGERY. 

ago and the recent Democratic primary disorders. Seven 
arrests, a missing ballot box, riotous proceedings, impersonat- 
ing officials, fraudulent voting and. stuffihg characterized 
Friday's crookedness. Following so closely the Democratic 
irregularities, Friday's business clinches the proposition that 
Indianism is a disease peculiar to certain wards and that its 
outbreaks are without partisan significance. The pathologic 
condition manifests itself with every political occasion, be 
the occasion Republican or Democratic, and the responsibility 
for treating it lies equally upon the parties. It threatens them 
both and only by leaguing themselves against it can the parties 
administer its quietus. — St. Louis Republic, March 21, 1904. 

IS IT TO BE A SHAM BATTLE? 

Is the Democratic reform movement to end in the smoke 
of the pipe of peace in the wigwam of the Indians? The local 
Democratic organ which has been leaning to reform and 
denouncing Indian methods, has taken to the conciliation 
trail. It deprecates real anger over party outrages and real 
fighting over issues within the party. Figuratively speaking, 
it spanks both Circuit Attorney Folk and his opponents for 
saying things that really hurt. It tells Mr. Folk that he must 
not talk back at the machine leaders, because he might endan- 
ger party success, which is the paramount consideration. 

If everything is to be sacrificed to party success, the Dem- 
ocratic reformers would do well to take off their war paint, 
lay aside their weapons and come into the machine camp. The 
battle is a sham battle, a battle for places, not for principles. 

This logic leads inevitably to the condoning of any and 
all methods, no matter how nefarious, to gain control of the 
party convention ; the approving of any and all results, no 
matter how antagfonistic to reform purposes, and the indorsing 
of "yellow dogs" if the machine bosses chose to nominate 
<-hem. 

If this is to be the sum of Democratic reform — an inside 
scramble for places, with harmony under the old machine in 
the end, the gfame is not worth the candle. — St Louis Post-Dis- 
patch, March 28, 1904. 

SEVENTEEN NEW INDICTMENTS IN "INDIAN" CASES. 

The February Grand Jury Friday morning returned 
.seventeen indictments against the participants in the recent 
election outrages at the polling places during the Democratic 



MISSOURI'S BATTLE WITH THE BOODLERS. 143 

primaries. Fourteen of those indicted are members of the 
poUce force, three sergeants and nine officers. 

The other three are Central Committeemen, John J. Lavin, 
his brother, Timothy Lavin, and one of the Lavin henchmen, 
James, ahas "Jimmie" Holmes.— 6^^. Loitis Star, March 25, 1904. 

THE OPINION OF HORACE FLACK. 

There are times when even the most glaring mistakes 
made by the most respectable citizens of St. Louis are so 
natural as to be unavoidable. Such a time is the present, when 
the most respectable citizens, who are really undergomg 
pacification, mistake their feelings for extreme and perma- 
nent indignation. 

The inevitable nature of this result lies first in the mevi- 
table nature of the process of pacification. When any con- 
siderable number of people organize revolt and begin a sys- 
tem of harassing the authorities through the grand jury, 
the criminal courts and in other ways, they cease to be con- 
sidered as belligerents or even insurgents when the supreme 
court has declared regular hostilities at an end. They are 
then mere ladrones and all that remains is to complete the 
pacification. 

This is done by watching the rendezvous where those who 
need to be reduced to subordination and satisfaction are 
expected to meet for the purpose of voting. They are told 
in advance that they "can't vote," but they never understand 
exactly why until they make the attempt. Then, instead of 
being allowed to vote, they are pacified. 

When a respectable citizen is to be pacified, three or more 
policemen are stationed in the neighborhood to prevent dis- 
orderly interference with the process, and to check violence 
on his"^ part. These policemen were stationed there by supe- 
riors, carefully selected to manage this process of pacification 
and endorsed as suitable for it by men "higher up/' whose 
names do not appear on the applications for appointment. 
When a considerable number of citizens who are really being 
pacified mistake their feelings for extreme indignation, these 
diplomats higher up, who "organize results," are habitually 
shocked and inexpressibly grieved. If a nickel were dropped 
in the slot to set them to repudiating and condemning, they 
could not be unspeakably shocked and inexpressibly grieved 
with more automatic energy than they are as a result of their 



144 POLITICAL THUGGERY. 

own habitual tendencies to horror and grief under such cir- 
cumstances. 

The circumstances of pacification are generally under- 
stood just now. When a respectable citizen, who is in favor of 
sending bribers, boodlers and blackmailers to the penitentiary, 
is to be pacified at the polls, he is first shoved out of the line 
of those who have been kept waiting for three hours to vote. 
Then he is ''chunked in the slats" on one side^ and, as he is 
about to lose his balance, he is "socked in the dough pan" on 
the other side to restore it. When he does not understand at 
once the meaning of this process, a sympathizer with his con- 
dition asks, "Wot t'ell de matter wid dat old geezer? Is he 
tryin' to git in de push?" Then he is slugged in the back of 
the head and left in the gutter in the first stages of successful 
pacification, the stage in which he "can't vote." 

In the view of those who organize results from higher up, 
there is no excuse for using "brass knucks" or lead pipe as 
instruments of this process of pacification. During several 
years of preparation for it, scientific pugilism has been offi- 
cially encouraged so that it might be done systematically, 
humanely and scientifically. The various schools of successful 
and scientific pugilism organized in St. Louis, with the effi- 
cient protection of the police and the patronage of the organ- 
izers of results, have been open to all, including even respecta- 
ble citizens. Of course, as respectable citizens w^ere attempt- 
ing to support the processes of the grand jury and the petit 
juries in the criminal courts, they had no time to learn to 
"slug" scientifically. So, when they are pacified, there is the 
less excuse for hitting them with "brass knucks" or lead pipe. 
They might have been pacified without these, and it grieves 
the organizers of results very greatly that lead pipe and "brass 
knucks" should have been used. It is not only inhumane, but, 
in their view, wholly unscientific and unnecessary. In this 
opinion they are supported by the facts, for, when a respecta- 
ble citizen has been knocked out by a blow which loosens his 
front teeth, there 'is really no need for striking him with "brass 
knucks" afterward. For he is then so far advanced toward his 
ultimate pacification that he can't vote. — St. Louis Globe-Demo- 
crat, March 15, 1904. 

The people are the supreme power — the court of last 
resort — under our- Democratic system of government. They 
called into existence all the official stations in our State gov- 



MISSOURI'S BATTLE WITH THE BOODLERS. 145 

crnment, the Supreme Court as well as that of the township 
constable, for the general benefit, and as the organs for the 
execution of their will according to the rules for their gov- 
ernment which they have prescribed in their fundamental law. 
When Mr. Folk takes his appeal from the Supreme Court to 
the people, he goes to that highest of all courts which it was 
so much the delight of Thomas Jefferson to rely upon. When 
Mr. Hawes assumes that the Supreme Court can do no harm, 
he relegates himself back to that condition of the benighted 
English in their loyalty to the King.— Marshall (Mo.) Progress, 
February 5, 1904. 

Doc Ames, of Minneapolis, the Mayor who has been on 
trial for boodling, has had at least a temporary escape through 
the quashing of an indictment by the Supreme Court of Minne- 
sota. Coming after the Missouri cases, this decision will not 
receive a hearty national welcome. The Court differs on the 
grounds for reversal. The majority and minority admit evi- 
dence of guilt. Naturally, to the lay mind, it seems strange 
that if a man is deemed unmistakably guilty he is so likely to 
escape, when politics are involved, by technical deficiencies in 
indictment. Very possibly the Minneapolis Court was moved 
entirely by love of justice and respect for law. We are in no 
position to imply the contrary, and certainly have no desire 
to do so. There is no doubt, however, that our criminal juris- 
prudence is not a credit to the country. The procedure itself 
is inferior to the English, the judges are less learned and less 
disinterested, and the first of these conditions depends to a 
large extent upon the other. One of our correspondents, espe- 
cially well informed about inside politics, but without knowl- 
edge of the law, speaks of the "uniform defences by the courts 
of our system of corruption." Another remarks that any one 
of our editorials on the Missouri cases "would constitute a 
very heinous contempt under the present laws of Missouri," 
but he submits that it is of no importance what the court 
thinks, adding, 'T know the Court." On the Ames case a 
Western business man writes: "It seems as if it were utterly 
impossible to convict a man who has political backing, and so 
other officials of our State and municipal governments are 
encouraged to persist in their pernicious grafting." The fund- 
amental blame belongs upon the voters who accept the boss 
system and care more for party names than purity of char- 
acter. — Collier's Weekly, February 17, 1904. 

10 



146 POLITICAL THUGGERY. 

Judging by the action of lier courts and her juries, Mis- 
souri has nothing to hope for in eUminating the bribery evil 
until public conscience has been aroused to that point where 
it will not submit to the plan which has long been in vogue 
of allowing municipal offices in St. Louis to be filled with 
saloon keepers, ward heelers and political sharpers, who 
openly boast of their desire to get office for the sole object 
of seeing how much they can make out of it for themselves. 
St. Louis will learn some time, as other large cities must, 
that municipal government is business, not politics. — Roanoke 
(Va.) World, February i6, 1904. 

AN EASTERN VIEW OF FOLK'S FIGHT. 

An editorial in Frank Leslie's Popular Monthly states 
very clearly the attitude of people in the Eastern states toward 
the political situation in Missouri. "All eyes on Missouri" 
says the editorial. "Out in Missouri the issue is plain. Cir- 
cuit Attorney Folk, who has done as much for clean govern- 
ment as any American of our generation, has flatly refused to 
step outside the ranks of Democracy. He lives in a Demo- 
cratic state. The corruptionists in his party owe their power 
to the mask of Democracy which they assume. To fight the 
sham with the real is Folk's part — not to play into the enemy's 
hands by allowing them to accomplish their daring desire of 
reading him out of* the party. Success to him !" — California 
(Mo.) Dispatch, February 12, 1904. 

There is only one way to get honest men in the legislature, 
house and senate. Folk can not do it; Crow can not do it; 
all the prosecuting attorneys in the state cannot, together, do 
it. This is exclusively the people's business. And if they do 
not attend to it, they have no right to complain if some other 
result happens. The people can do anything they want to do^ 
if they really want to and are not afraid. Prosecuting officers 
may be able to get some of the dishonest men out, occasionally, 
but they would be saved a deal of trouble, and the state a deal 
of expense, if the people would do their whole duty in the first 
instance. — Charleston Enterprise, February 12, 1904. 

Missouri is heartily sick of Butlerism, and now that all 
chances for sending him to the penitentiary appear to have 
disappeared, w^e should like to see the boss of all boodlers 
betake himself to a life of quiet and non-interference in matters 
public or political. The Missouri democracy might not have 



MISSOURI'S BATTLE WITH THE BOODLERS. 147 

such tremendous majorities in the city of St. Louis if "Old Ed" 
wasn't around to look after the repeating and the returns, but 
it would gain immeasurably in public esteem if his dirty 
methods no longer ruled the caucus and the elections and his 
defiling hands no more might tamper with the ballot. — St. Joseph 
Gazette, February lo, 1904. 

FOLK AND THE MACHINE. 

Ed. Butler, the St. Louis boss who escaped the toils of 
Joseph W. Folk, the public prosecutor, is looking with a kindly 
eye on the canvass of former Mayor Reed, of Kansas City, for 
the Democratic nomination for Governor. It is Reed who 
tells his fellow Democrats from the stump that boodle is no 
issue in Missouri. ''He is a logical fellow,^' says the St. Louis 
boss; ''he makes a good speech." The boss likes a hard 
worker, and Reed is working hard to convince the people of 
Missouri that Public Prosecutor Folk is hunting down 
boodlers for his own selfish ends and is not above slandering 
a grand old party. "The way to get a nomination," says the 
Democratic boss of St. Louis, "is to hustle like hell." He 
admires a man who can pound away at the proposition that 
boodle is not an issue in Missouri and who stands up for the 
machine. He is a logical fellow, and Folk — well, he's no Dem- 
ocrat. 

Meanwhile Joseph W. Folk, who is a candidate for the 
nomination, with no organization behind him, because the 
plain people like the cut of his jib, knowing a real man when 
they see him, is hustling in a way which fits Boss Butler's 
description without taking his fancy. Folk fills halls to the 
roof and the window sill, and the farmers drive thirty miles to 
hear him say that boodle is an issue in Missouri and tell them 
why. They cheer him when he says, as he did at Piedmont 
the other day : "If I am elected Governor I shall see that 
bribery in legislative halls is exterminated. The first time a 
legislator takes a bribe there will be a message sent by me to 
the General Assembly asking for his impeachment. I will 
see to it that a corrupt lobby is not allowed to operate and 
the day of sandbagging legislation comes to an end." The 
public prosecutor realizes that the machine has weight and 
reach and fights foul. It is as much as a man's life is worth, 
perhaps, to enter the ring against it. But Mr. Folk faces 
it with grit and resolution, and every blow he delivers is struck 



148 POLITICAL THUGGERY. 

with a stout heart behind it. He is confident of getting a 
decision from the people in spite of the odds against him. 
"The battle against boodle can and will be won in Missouri," 
he says. "If there ever was a doubt of the cure of corruption 
being an issue in the Democratic party of Missouri, that doubt 
is now dispelled. Why these gleeful exclamations of delight 
when a boodler escapes the meshes of the law? Why all this 
subtle influence arrayed on the side of men charged with 
bribery ? The boodlers and their allies are well defined and 
are very active in this fight. A few months ago they were 
under cover, fighting from ambush. Now they have come out 
into the open and defy the people of a great State. They 
loudly rejoice at every victory and are downcast with every 
defeat of the corruptionists." A man who talks in this way 
and means it may not be a logical fellow in the calculations 
of the machine ; but if his character is unassailable, he makes 
his own machine as he goes along, and his machine is the 
people who admire illogical honesty and the courage that 
doesn't count consequences. Joseph W. Folk, whose char- 
acter has withstood some very vicious assaults, will be a 
hard man to beat when the roll is called on nominations for 
Governor. — Nezv York Sun, February i8, 1904. 



Chapter X. 
PULPIT ECHOES. 



Mr. Gladstone once ventured a suggestion as to the right kind 
of preaching, pointing out zuhat he considered a defect in the 
work of modern ministers. He said that the clergymen of hi^ 
day zvere not, as a rule, severe enough upon their congregations. 
''They do not," he said, "sufficiently lay upon their souls and con- 
sciences and heads their moral obligations, or probe their lives 
and bring up the whole life to the bar of conscience. The ser- 
mons most needed are those similar to the one that offended Lord 
Melbourne, zvhen he claimed that he was obliged to listen to a 
preacher zi'ho insisted upon a mans applying his religion to his 
private life. This is the kind of preaching men need most, and 
get the least of." And this, it may be added, is the reason wf 
have such enormous hypocrisies and unblushing villainies in 
trade, originated, promoted and consummated by professed Chris- 
tian men. 



CHAPTER X. 



PULPIT ECHOES. 



CONDEMN RIOTS FROM THE PULPITS — WHERE IS RESPONSIBILITY 

LAW AND ORDER CONTEMPT OF LAW MENACES SOCIETY — 

THE TERROR OF LAW LAWLESSNESS THE STATE PREACHERS 

AROUSED. 



After this chapter in Missouri Church history, let no one say 
that the various rehgious bodies are indifferent and inert. They 
may be cautious and^ conservative, but they are not cowardly. 
From one view point, we may almost sa}^ of this moral revolution 
what Dr. Parkhurst said of New York : "It was the pulpit that 
did the work." For all denominations. Catholic and Protestant, 
and nearly all the pulpits, were heard from. 

''When it is clear that the man who speaks is not speaking 
for the purpose of putting money into his pocket or power into 
his party, but is delivering his message because it is true, and 
in speaking it appreciates his oracular authority as one com- 
missioned of God to speak it, there is a suggestion of the Judg- 
ment Day about it, there is a presentiment of the invisible God 
back of it, that knots the stringy conscience of these fellows into 
contortions of terror. Waning power of the pulpit? There is 
all of power in the pulpit that there is of God voicing Himself 
through the man who stands in the pulpit." 

Rev. F. Klemme, of St. Johns Evangelical church, said : 
"The law should be enforced and those who disgraced St. 
Louis at the polls should be punished. The Grand Jury did splen- 
did work. To the penitentiary with the law breakers. I blame 
the saloons largely for the affair." 

Rev. Howard F. Cree, of the Central Christian church : 
'T was a witness to the election disgraces. I saw the bru- 
tality and the police rendering no assistance whatever to those 
who needed it. 



152 POLITICAL THUGGERY. 

"They seemed to be talking over the matter with the 'Indians,' 
who were but pawns in the game. There was no order. 

"It was a species of anarchy. It was a body blow at honest 
government." 

Rev. W. D. Bradford, of the Cook Avenue Methodist church, 
South : 

"The Grand Jury has spoken in very effective terms and it 
will receive the applause of all the people. There is no need to 
abandon all hope in municipal affairs when we have such a Grand 
Jury. 

"I hope we will have as good a jury to try the indicted men 
when the time comes. It is a vitally important matter to pro- 
tect the polls." 

Rev. Eugene T. McFarland, of the Fourth Christian church : 

"If is a strange state of affairs when law-abiding citizens are 
beaten by thugs while trying to vote in the city of St. Louis. 

'Tt is time to organize vigilance committees. All people 
should unite to down the boodlers in the State. 

"They can be downed if the Christian voters will stand to- 
gether. I am chagrined at Governor Dockery's attitude. It is a 
great pity." 

Rev. W. J. McKittrick, of the First Presbyterian church : 
"There are no two sides to the matter at all. It is a burning 
shame to St. Louis. It is not a political question. All citizens 
must rouse themselves at once. 

"The right to vote undisturbed is -an imperative necessity in 
the United States for the preservation of the Union." 

Rev. Louis I. Bowerman, of Immanuel Baptist church, 
preached on "The American Saloon and the Dispensary System." 

"As long as we have the saloon," he said, "we will have out- 
rages similar to the outrages of last Saturday." 

CONDEMN RIOTS FROM THE PULPITS. 

In pursuance of resolutions adopted at the Southern Metho- 
dist ministers' meeting, last Monday, nearly all the pastors of that 
denomination said something from their pulpits on the subject of 
the riotous scenes at the Democratic city primaries. Some were 
stronger in their sentiments than others, but all took the ground 



MISSOURI'S BATTLE WITH THE BOODLERS. 153 

that such methods were a subversion of free government and 
could not be tolerated by the people of Missouri. 

Rev. Dr. W. F. McMurry, pastor of Centenary Methodist 
church, preached to a congregation that filled the large audi- 
torium on, "The World's Greatest Curse." He introduced his 
remarks by referring to a request received from the Woman's 
Christian Temperance Union, having reference to the Sunday 
saloon, and to some resolutions passed by preachers' meetings 
with reference to election disturbances. He said the whole trouble 
lay with the liquor traffic, and that he preferred to go after the 
disease itself, rather than spend the time with a few necessary 
symptoms. Continuing, he said : 

"The liquor traffic is the most gigantic curse the world has 
ever known. The grand old State of Missouri, the state of my 
birth, the state that I love better than any other state in the union, 
is in a deplorable condition. In this city there are 2500 saloons ; 
one saloon to every fifty-four of the male population, and we 
seem amazed over a little rioting on election day, when brewers 
are lined up for opposing candidates, some of them for one and 
some for the other. We have become so accustomed to the pres- 
ence of this evil, that we think too little about it. We forget that 
almost the whole of our civic troubles originate here. 

"A few mornings ago, I read an account of a young man 
losing his life in a saloon, shot to death by the son of the Chief 
of Police. Our hearts went out in sympathy to the parents of 
these young men. Who is responsible for this death? And who 
for the crime committed ? I answer without hesitation, the liquor 
traffic of St. Louis. A woman drinking with her companions a 
few nights ago took from her bosom a deadly weapon and blew 
out her brains. The history of the case would convict the liquor 
traffic of St. Louis of this death. Not long since, I was called to 
bury a woman who died of poverty and a broken heart. The hus- 
band and father was too drunk at the funeral to behave himself 
decently. 

"Tl,ie boodlers and thugs who play so large a part m our 
cities, and about whom so much political capital is being made, 
are the product of the saloon, and without these dens of iniquity 
where these rascals breed and grow up, such a state of affairs 
would be impossible. You expect too much of governors and 



154 POLITICAL THUGGERY. 

judges when you expect ideal conditions while they are dealing 
with the product of the saloons. 

"It is high time we were giving our money to build open 
doors, places of rest and rescue in the cities where there is now 
no door open every day in the week except the saloon. It has 
been on my heart since I first came to this church as pastor that 
there ought to be erected here in connection with this church a 
hall where men could meet and spend their idle hours, sur- 
rounded by influences which are good, that they might not be 
forced to enter the saloon for warmth and society. God help us 
to do our duty in every way." 

WHERE IS RESPONSIBILITY? 

Rev. John S. Tilley, at the Mount Auburn Methodist church, 
spoke on the subject of "Good Citizenship," declaring that no one 
would question that the "Indians" had worked under instruction 
at the Democratic primaries and that it was the people responsible 
for these instructions, who were also responsible for the acts of 
the "Indians." He said, in brief : 

"It is without avail that the slum politicians and the saloon 
statesmen are crying out that there is no cause for alarm. The 
city is aroused ; its best citizens can not and will not remain silent 
when hoodlums invade the best wards and throttle the voice of 
the sovereign people by instituting a reign of terror at the polls. 

"Where lies the responsibility? There is little to be gained 
by abusing the degenerates called 'Indians.' The responsibility 
lies back of the Indians. Who hired them and who sent them 
there? Who questions for a moment that these men were acting 
under explicit instructions? Who does not know that these In- 
dians would not have dared invade this twenty-eighth ward, as- 
sault its citizens and commit an offense, than which there could 
not be a more serious, had there not been an understanding that 
the police would not interfere? Who is so blinded by ignorance 
or partisanship as not to realize that the police, had they been free 
to act, could have quelled the disorder in the very beginning by 
half a dozen arrests?" 

Rev. H. R. Singleton, speaking at Cabanne church, said : "I 
have nothing to say about the men who are seeking the Demo- 
cratic nomination for governor, but I do say that the primaries 



MISSOURI'S BATTLE WITH THE BOODLERS. 155 

of last week in St. Louis were an outrage on our boasted Ameri- 
can institutions, and ought to be rebuked in every possible way 
by the voters of Missouri. 

"One of the worst features of American politics is the slavish 
adherence, on the part of our people, to the party with which they 
happened to first become identified. If the better element of 
voters would be independent enough to form their opinions in 
each contest and vote accordingly, the political parties would be 
forced to recognize them and respect them. 

"A man has not much, if any, choice between the two par- 
ties now, so far as men and methods go, but a large, independ- 
ent vote would probably change that condition. And then if you 
can not get your rights at the polls, organize and arm yourselves 
and secure your rights by force. Our forefathers did so and are 
respected for it." 

Rev. J. Stephan, at Marvin Memorial church, brought out the 
idea that the rioting on Saturday, March 12, was something for 
which, when reduced to the real causes, the Christians are to 
blame, because of their laxity in exercising the privileges of citi- 
zenship. The corruption, he said, had been going on all the 
time, but under the searching investigation of a man like Mr. 
Folk, people were just awakening to this fact. 

'There is nothing," he said, ''which gives the world greater 
satisfaction than the supineness with which the church of Christ 
treats the questions which relate to the betterment of society and 
the purity of politics. When we fail to exercise the right of fran- 
chise, we are thereby putting into the hands of the vicious element 
of society power to control our government and put bad men in 
office. Who is responsible for the perpetuation of so many evils 
and vices, such as are common in this great city, if we the good 
people take so little interest in their overthrow? The church 
ought to be a moral breakwater in the midst of the evil and de- 
structive currents of city life. One reason that sin thrives in so 
many public and shameful forms, especially such as was witnessed 
Saturday, March 12, and in open defiance of the law, is because 
the church of God has been going on quietly, letting the world 
drift in this current of lawlessness and sin." 



156 POLITICAL THUGGERY. 

The Reverend James W. Lee, pastor of St. John's Methodist 
church, preached on 

LAW AND ORDER. 

After introducing his subject by saying that there were good 
and bad methods in all political parties, and sheep and goats in 
all parties, too. Reverend Lee said : 

'*The churches of St. Louis have no intention as a whole, 
or in separate sections, of going into politics. They have, other 
and far more inportant work to perform. But they are a unit 
in the conviction that the laws which have been made for the 
regulation and well-being of the body politic should be enforced, 
and they know perfectlv well, too, that these laws are not en- 
forced. This is not a political declaration ; it is an affirmation of 
a plain, simple, sad fact. 

"We are not working for the election of this man or that 
man for governor. We are willing that any honorable man shall 
be governor, provided he can get a majority of the votes of the 
people. What Vv'e want is a governor who will compel his sub- 
ordinate officers to do their duty and enforce the laws. That is 
what we want now — an enforcement of the laws. 

"The religious and reputable elements in the community are 
at a loss to understand what the laws were ever enacted for if 
not to be obeyed. They are excellent laws and they do not re- 
strict the liberty of any man." 

In commenting upon the non-enforcement of the law, he 
called particular attention to two sections, one prohibiting the 
dramshop keeper from having musical instruments or allowing 
games to be played on his premises ; the other forbidding the 
opening of the saloons on Sunday. The first section, which was 
quoted in full, shows that music of any kind is forbidden in a 
saloon, and the throwing of dice, card playing and all other forms 
of gambling, including pool and billiards, are defined as misde- 
meanors, and oft'enders are subject to a' fine of not less than $i or 
more than $50, while the saloon man permitting the ofifense ren- 
ders himself liable and, according to the law, shall be deprived" of 
his license. 

The speaker vigorously attacked the Police Commissioners, 
the Excise Commissioner, and the police officials generally for 
their action in ignoring these sections of the law. He pointed out 



MISSOURI'S BATTLE WITH THE BOODLERS. 157 

that the Sunday-closing section and the section relative to gam- 
ing and amusements in saloons were explicit and positive in their 
construction. He said that the present laws are as good as any 
that can be enacted. 

"Whenever the good people of this city begin to cry out 
against lawlessness," said he, "then the word is passed round that 
the thing to do is to get a new law, that the old ones will not 
work. We have grown accustomed to this old cry and know 
very well that if the authorities will not enforce the laws we now 
have they would not enforce the new ones." 

CONTEMPT OF LAW MENACES SOCIETY. 

In a sermon on "The Majesty of the Law," preached by the 
Reverend Doctor S. B. Moore at the Hammett Place Christian 
Church, the speaker took his text from Paul to the Romans xiii, 
I : "Let every soul be in subjection to the higher powers." 

Doctor Moore said, in part : 

"The apostle says the powers that be are ordained of God, 
and that rulers are not a terror to the good, but to the evil. Man, 
as well as society, is so constituted that he must be restrained or 
governed by law. 'Every man a law unto himself means anarchy. 
Law is based upon justice and equity, and may be traced back to 
the God of all wisdom and power as its remotest source. 

" 'Vengeance is mine ; I will repay, saith the Lord.' Before 
that high tribunal every man must stand in his true light; there 
is no way of thwarting that supreme justice. No just law can 
contravene divine law, else the injunction of our text would 
be unreasonable. 

''The danger to society and the state lies in criminal contempt 
of law. This danger is imminent in St. Louis just now. There 
are laws enough upon the statute books, both State and municipal, 
to insure the rights of citizenship and good government to all the 
people, were they but reasonably enforced. But the laws are 
openly violated under the very eyes of the conservators of the law, 
and with no thought of danger of retribution. 

"The scenes witnessed in our city on March 12 are an in- 
cident, yea more than an incident — they exhibit a settled purpose 
to override law and common decency, and set at defiance all sen- 
timents of justice, and the common rights of men. 



158 POLITICAL THUGGERY. 

"Right now is a time for serious thought and vigorous action. 
The World's Fair will bring to our city a large contingent of 
thieves, ex-convicts, lawbreakers, and criminals of all kinds, 
which, added to the baser elements within our borders, will greatly 
augment the perils of the present hour. 

"Respectable people simply plead for the enforcement of the 
law. The people composing our churches are not cranks ; they 
are not posing as ultra-righteous ; they are not temperance fanat- 
ics ; they are not Pharisaical ; they are contending only for that 
which is right and just. 

"There is law enough, and power enough to enforce it, to 
close up the saloons of the city on the Lord's day, and during 
other hours prescribed by law. But the law is openly violated 
and under the eyes of its executors. 

''Contempt of law is an heinous crime and a serious menace 
to the liberties of the whole people. When it comes to pass that 
executors of the law become lawbreakers — violators of the laws 
they are solemnly sworn to enforce — then the people should be- 
stir themselves. The people are long-suffering. They are not 
technically critical, but when forbearance ceases to be a virtue, 
when public conscience is once aroused, something is going to 
happen. Thus far and no farther is the mandate of the people, 
and the mandate of God as well. When either religion or poli- 
tics becomes oppressive and takes away the liberties of men, men 
revolt and revolution is sure to follow. 

THE TERROR OF LAW. 

'Tf the law inspires no terror in evil-doers, there will be no 
restraint. If the powers that be wink at, or connive at, infractions 
of law, there is no terror. Conscience, being dead in the vicious 
evildoers, offers no remonstrance. 

"Human law should be as inflexible as divine law. 'Knowing 
the terror of the Lord,' Paul persuaded men. 'Sin is a transgres- 
sion of law, and the wages of sin is death.' So inflexible is God's 
law that 'every transgression received a just recompense of re- 
ward.' Hence, there could be no contempt of that law — its re- 
tributions were swift and sure. 

"The enforcement of law inspires respect and reverence for 
authority, so that the abbreviation, 'Hon.' prefixed to the name 



MISSOURI'S BATTLE WITH. THE BOODLERS. 159 

of an official carries with it a meaning, standing as a synonym for 
honor, rather than dishonor. 

"Finally, the people of the Republic are the power. It is not 
vested in any particular class, or cult, club, or ring. 

"The power of government may for a time be centered in a 
narrow corrupt circle. The conscienceless hoodlum element may 
for a moment triumph. Law and order may be trodden down and 
justice hide her fair face in shame, but the reaction will come. 

"The people at large are clean, public conscience is not dead, 
though it may be slumbering. Political, ecclesiastical, yea no con- 
ventional bonds can hold a people whose rights are trampled 
under foot. The people are seeing things, they are waking up, 
they will soon be fully aroused. It may be that in their lethargy 
they have been letting out rope by which corruption will strangle 
itself. 

"The church and all good people stand for justice and right- 
eousness among men. Let the vote of the people be heard upon 
all public questions, let every soul be subject to the higher powers, 
then the state and society will be safe, and the people will have 
peace and rejoice." 

LAWLESSNESS. 

Political corruption and the lawlessness which prevailed at 
the Democratic primaries were scored by the Reverend Doctor J. 
H. Young in a sermon delivered at Wagoner Place M. E. church. 
South. Doctor Young said, in part : 

'Tn accordance with a resolution passed by our Methodist 
preachers' meeting last Monday, I want to say a few things this 
morning to my congregation relative to the lawlessness in our city 
on the day of the primar}^ election. As preachers we do not desire 
to enter the political arena and advocate the cause of any particu- 
lar candidate — especially from our pulpits. 

"But the time has come when it would be criminal for honest 
men to remain silent, and when the municipality must 'cry aloud 
and spare not.' 

"I need not occupy your time this morning in repeating the 
stories of the outrages perpetrated at the polls by the Hawes In- 
dians. There is no need to be mealy-mouthed in using names, 
since the Reverend Doctor Holland has publicly said he saw Mr. 
Hawes at the polls, shaking hands with these ruffians and encour- 



160 POLITICAL THUGGERY. 

aging them in their work. We have all read the statements made 
by some of our best citizens as to these outrages upon innocent, 
law-abiding men, by thugs, scoundrels, or Indians, who were 
abetted and encouraged in their rowdyism by the police officers 
stationed at the polls. 

"First of all, we need to place the blame of these outrages 
where it properly belongs. Not so much upon these 'Indians' 
themselves, for they are a low-lived set who are ready to sell 
their services to either party for a consideration. Nor, indeed, 
upon the policemen who encouraged these rowdies and refused 
to protect men whom they knew to be honorable citizens from 
brutal treatment at their hands. The responsibility rests upon 
those men who set them on to their murderous work, or upon 
those who by neglect of duties they were sworn to perform did 
not take proper steps to prevent what many of our best citizens 
suspected would take place on election day. 

"The disgraceful row at Clayton was itself a warning which 
the governor of our State and the police commissioners ought to 
have heeded. A few words from Governor Dockery, spoken in 
no uncertain- tones, would have made these outrages impossible. 
Or, if the police commissioners, acting under their own consti- 
tutional powers, had given the necessary orders to the police, 
the peace of our city would not have been so flagrantly violated. 
As law-abiding citizens, we demand of Governor Dockery that we 
be protected in our rights. It will not do to set the Board of Po- 
lice commissioners to work to vindicate themselves. Three of 
their number were beneficiaries of the crimes perpetrated against 
a free ballot. If they are sincere, let them repudiate the work 
of their agents by refusing to profit by their crimes against the 
ballot. It is inconceivable that all the police stationed at the polls 
should connive at the 'repeating' and 'lining up' of these hood- 
lums if they had not received some 'tips' that all this was expected 
of them. No sane man can believe that these police would stand 
by and see honest men dragged from the line and beaten without 
even a word of protest or efifort upon their part to protect these 
men in their rights, unless they had instructions, from some source, 
to warrant their conduct. 

"Instead of this police board going through the farce of ex- 
amining into the conduct of policemen who refused to do their 



MISSOURI'S BATTLE WITH THE BOODLERS. 161 

duty, they need to be examined themselves for their failure to 
take steps to prevent this lawlessness. The fact is, Governor 
Dockery and our police board all stand impeached at the bar of 
public opinion and they need to prove their own innocence before 
attempting to 'examine' others. Let the grand jury do its duty 
without fear and probe this matter to the bottom. We are not to 
be satisfied with vain offers of '$ioo reward' for the conviction of 
some poor policeman who acted, as we believe, under orders. We 
want to know what were the orders given the board by the gov- 
ernor and that these orders were explicit and unequivocal. We 
want to know what were the orders given to the police by the 
board and what were the special instructions given by the cap- 
tains. The spectacle of a police board sitting, behind closed doors, 
examining their own acts in strict secrecy, reflects no credit upon 
them and is wholly unsatisfactory to an outraged public. 

*Tt is time the good citizens of St. Louis were asserting their 
rights, irrespective of party lines. The only political issue now 
before the people of St. Louis, and, indeed, of the State of Mis- 
souri, is that of good home government. We want honest men in 
all our civil offices, men who consider the best interests of the 
people at large and who will not bow to the party lash wielded by 
saloonkeepers, ex-convicts and convicted boodlers. 

''The history of St. Louis for the last decade has not been one 
of which the honest St. Louisan may be justly proud. Democrats 
and Republicans have, each in turn, allowed or condoned corrup- 
tion in high places and in low, till we have acquired the reputa- 
tion of being the worst governed city in the Union. 

"Our people have been long-sufifering to a criminal extent 
We have talked and talked and bewailed our condition till patience 
has ceased to be a virtue. What we need now is to act, and to act 
decisively. I do not advocate force except in extremities — that is 
to say, in self-defense. We have fallen upon hard lines, indeed, 
when the Governor of our State boldly ofifers $ioo reward for the 
conviction of blind and deaf policemen, and then weakly asks 
the police board to examine themselves as to their reasons for em- 
ploying these blind and deaf men at the polls. Hard lines, indeed, 
when the acting chief of police furnishes his own buggy for one 
of the candidates to make the rounds of the polls to encourage 
these 'Indians' in their lawless work. 

1 1 



162 POLITICAL THUGGERY. 

"Without regard to political parties and demagogues, I trust 
our true and loyal citizens will rise up in their might and put down 
mob rule and 'lynch law,' as Doctor Holland very aptly calls it. 

"The time has come for every true man to do what he can to 
correct the lawlessness into which we have been drawn by un- 
scrupulous politicians. We have almost reached the point of revo- 
lution. Another election like this last, where the hoodlum element 
is protected in crime by the police, and our streets will flow with 
blood. Our indignation over these cruel and wanton outrages 
should be so marked and outspoken that the weak-kneed officers 
of the law, from the governor down to the constable, may be 
encouraged or forced to take proper measures to secure us in our 
rights.V 

THE STATE PREACHERS AROUSED. 

The following dispatch is one of many showing the hearty 
co-operation of Missouri ministers with their city brethren : 

KiRKSViLLE, Mo., xApril 7. — The ministers of the Cumber- 
land Presbyterian church of this presbytery, stand by the minis- 
ters of St. Louis, who denounced the work of the St. Louis ma- 
chine when thugs were allowed to intimidate voters at the St. 
Louis Democratic primaries and steal the election for Harry B. 
Hawes. For their denunciation of the police machine the minis- 
ters have been thanked in resolutions unanimously adopted as 
follows : 

Whereas, Forty-five ministers of the gospel, most of them 
pastors of churches of the different denominations of the city of 
St. Louis, have issued an appeal "To the Christian People of Mis- 
souri * * * in behalf of law and order," and the re-estab- 
lishment of good government over the city and commonwealth," 
and. 

Whereas, We learn from said appeal and other trustworthy 
sources "that elections in St. Louis do not indicate the will of the 
people ;" that "plug-uglies and repeaters" turn ballot boxes and 
city treasuries over to their rule, and command and assault honest 
citizenship that will not brook their reign of political terror; that 
franchises of the city "had been sold in regular market ;" that the 
buyers were citizens of wealth ; the corruption became more and 
more respectable with the greater prominence its additional ill- 
gotten wealth gave its purchasers ;" that it is these same bene- 



I 



MISSOURI'S BATTLE WITH THE BOODLERS. 163 

ficiaries who stand between them (the guilty parties) and the 
jail doors while they scoff at the threats of a justice that cannot 
imprison their felony ; seventeen boodlers convicted and not one 
in stripes ; and this immunity from punishment is not confined to 
St. Louis, but to others in the state who have been exposed, but 
still hold their offices in the state ; that there are now 2500 saloons 
in this city ; no work of social life is safe from their peril ; they 
laugh at all laws enacted for their restraint. They not only en- 
trap the youth who enter them, but lure reluctant entrance with 
song and dance. Girls no less than boys are their victims, and 
when passion is hot and reason reckless with wine there are in 
many of them secret rooms ready for the consummation of their 
ruin the wine cup begins. Their victims count by the thousands 
every year. 

They affirm that the so-called Indians are simply saloon 
gangs; that what they did in the twenty-eighth ward (recently) 
they have been doing in the other wards of the city for many 
years. 

As far as heard no policeman has been dismissed for failing 
to give citizens the protection for which he is well paid. 

These under shepherds, our brethren in Christ, appeal to the 
people of the state thus : "In every primary let your voice be 
heard. The people are tired of corruption and brutality." There- 
fore, 

. Resolved, This presbytery thanks these men of God for their 
timely appeal. 

After such a demonstration of the pulpit's power, why should 
the churches and ministers sink back into their usual lethargic 
state ? When they have seen and used their opportunity, why do 
they not continue their splendid service? As the Pope himself 
has said, "Politics is a part of morals ;" therefore we affirm 
that moral teachers are derelict in their plain duty when they 
do not deal with politics. To be sure, there is a vast difference 
between the treatment we expect from the pulpit, and that which 
we expect from the stump, of even the same subjects. But 
there is every reason why the stump speaker should elevate the 
tone and improve the manner of his utterances, as there is why 
the preacher should discuss the broad and vital issues of states- 
manship in a non-partisan way from the pulpit. 



164 POLITICAL THUGGERY. 

Sometimes it is said, "There are no moral issues in this cam- 
paign ;" the inference being that therefore moral teachers should ^ 
not be heard. But there are always moral issues in a campaign. 
For instance, there are as many moral issues as there are men to 
be nominated and elected to office. For each man in public office 
becomes thereby a model for many who look up to him; he is a 
source of moral influence, because of the office he occupies, in ad- 
dition to the influence he may otherwise exert. More and rnore 
the message comes to the church, 

'Tight not with ghosts and shadows : let us hear 
The snap of chain-links : let the gladdened ear 
Catch the pale prisoner's welcome, as the light 
Follows thy ax stroke through his cell of night ! 
Be faithful to both worlds, nor think to feed 
Earth's famished millions with the husks of creed. 
Servants of Him whose mission high and holy 
Was to the wronged, the suffering and the lowly, 
Thrust not His Eden-promise from our sphere, 
Distant and dim beyond the blue sky's span ! 
Like John of Patmos, see it now and here ! 
The New Jerusalem coming down to man !" 



Chapter XI. 
THE CITY WHIRLPOOL. 



We must face the inevitable. The nezv civilization is certain 
to be urban ; and the problem of the tzventieth century zvill be the 
city. Many Englisli sovereigns attempted to arrest the growth 
of London by proclamation. Equally idle unll be all attempts to 
turn back from the modern city the tide of population Hozmng up 
to it. One zvho thinks to circumvent or to successfully resist 
economic and social lazm is fighting against the stars in their 
courses. — Josiah Strong. 

Our trades, commerce, and manufactures, our banking sys- 
tems, our national debts, our huge systems of credit, are the 
grozvth of scarcely more than tzco centuries. The revolution in 
methods of travel and means of communication, and our systems 
of universal education are the products of the century in zvhich 
zve are still liz'ing. The capitalism and industrialism of to-day, 
and the zvorld market zvhich they seek to supply, are but recent 
grozcths. '^ '•' * Yet all these things are brought before the 
mind only zvith an effort. "It is," says Sir Henry Maine, "in 
spite of oz'erzvhelming evidence, most difficult for a citizen of 
Zi'estern Europe to bring thoroughly home to himself the truth 
that the ciz'ilization zvhich surrounds him is a rare exception in 
the history of the zvorld." — Benjamin Kidd, in ''Social Evolution." 



CHAPTER XL 



THE CITY WHIRLPOOL. 



A NATION OF CITIES SOME OF THE CAUSES MECHANICAL VERSUS 

MUSCULAR POWER THE RAIL HIGHWAYS ""STUMPS AIN't 

folks'' THE STARS IN THEIR COURSES. 



We are in the midst of a new age, with new duties, new 
problems and new perils. Old things are continually passing 
away, but at no time so rapidly as within the last fifty years. 
This history suggests one of the most marked characteristics 
of the present — the phenomenal growth of great cities. It is 
not a feature of western civilization merely", but a world-wide 
fact. Whatever its causes, there is no indication that they 
will be suspended ; but, on the other hand, the signs all seem 
to prophesy that they will be augmented, and that the growth 
of cities, rapid as it has been, will continue, and in some sec- 
tions even be accelerated. 

A NATION OF CITIES. 

At the beginning of the century, one-twenty-fifth of the 
population of the United States lived in cities of 8,000 and 
upwards ; this number had risen in 1850 to one-eighth ; in i860, 
one-sixth; in 1870, a little more than one-fifth; in 1880, 22.5 
per cent, or nearly one-fourth ; in 1890, over 25 per cent, and in 
1900, nearly '28 per cent. 

Or to state it differently, from 1790 to 1880, the whole 
population increased about four-fold ; the urban population 
thirteen-fold. In 1800 there were only six cities in the United 
States with a population of 8,000 or more. In 1880 there were 
286, and in 1890, 437. 

In Europe the same fact has attracted attention. Copen- 
hagen increased from 155,000 in i860 to 400,000 in 1895; Paris, 
from about 600,000 in 1789 to 2,500,000 in 1889. In the last 
one hundred and twenty years preceding 1800, London 



168 POLITICAL THUGGERY. 

increased in size only 50 per cent. In the eighty-six years 
following 1800, London has increased 500 per cent. Three 
cities as large as London would be almost enough to people 
Spain; six would be more than enough to people Italy; seven, 
nearly enough to people France; and eleven, to people the 
United States.'^ Every week adds 2,500 souls to its swarming 
millions; every month adds a city of 10,000 inhabitants; every 
year one of 125,000. But London is only the metropolis; there 
are in England and Wales alone twenty-seven other cities, the 
smallest of which contains over 75,000 inhabitants, whose 
great size and sudden growth are no less remarkable than that 
of London itself. Scotland can be cited as an illustration of 
the centralizing forces of the time. In an article in the 
Nineteenth Century, July, 1884, Mr. Henry George said : 

"While a few Scotchmen have castles and palaces, more 
than one-third of all Scottish families live in one room each, 
and more than two-thirds in not more than two rooms each. 
Thousands of acres are kept as a playground for strangers, 
while the masses have not enough of their native soil to grow 
a flower; are shut out even from moor and mountain ; dare not 
take a trout from a lock or a salmon from a stream. '^ 

The conditions have improved somewhat since this was 
written, but the largest room of all is still the room for 
improvement. 

In Russia, France, Germany, Norway and Sweden, in 
short, all Europe, we witness the rapid growth of cities that 
we had thought was the exclusive miracle of the western lands 
of our OAvn country. This sudden and tremendous transfer- 
ence of population to great throbbing centres has produced 
changes which are more than revolutionary in their sweep 
and power. In the United States the cities have outgrown the 
rural districts, at a time of the opening and settlement of vast 
areas of public domain. The valuable agricultural lands have 
not been sufficient inducement to our swarms of immigrants 
and the native population to turn them from city to country. 
As the most desirable of this territory is now occupied, we 
must conclude that instead of diminishing, our cities will, for 
a time at least, grow more rapidly than before. And there 
are people now living who will see New York rival London, 
and Chicago outreach New York. It is inevitable that event- 

*Modern Cities. 



MISSOURI'S BATTLE WITH THE BOODLERS. 1G9 

ually the majority of our population must content themselves 
with city life. 

The fact is that population is being redistributed and con- 
gested. Forty per cent of the whole number of townships in 
the country actually lost population in 1880. The city of 
Chicago more than doubled, while 792 townships in the State 
of Illinois were depleted. The city is a great whirlpool, draw- 
ing steadily vast streams of people into the vortex. The 
tendency toward centralization is well-nigh omnipotent. It is 
in vain to sing to our boys and young men, "Stay on the farm 
a while longer." 

SOME OF THE CAUSES. 

The forces that are busy building great cities are as 
apparent and as irresistible, may we not say as permanent, as 
the swing of the tides or the pull of gravitation ? Dr. Josiah 
Strong calls attention to some of these in his little book "The 
Twentieth Century City." There is, first of all, a force work- 
ing throughout the rural regions by power of expulsion. The 
time was when it took a large group of men to plant and 
harvest a comparatively small crop ; but the inventive genius 
of the Yankee has been at work, and now improved machinery 
in our fields and orchards has taken the place of hundreds of 
farm laborers. 

A Government agent reports, after due investigation, that 
four men with modern agricultural instruments will do the 
work formerly done by fourteen. This is displacing ten men 
out of every fourteen. Where shall the ten men go and what 
shall they do? The writer was reared in the State of Cali- 
fornia where, in the Sacramento Valley, again a?nd again he 
has seen a great harvester driven by steam or by a score or 
more of mules and horses, cutting, threshing and sacking the 
grain as it moved over the great fields. This is but one illus- 
tration among the many that might be furnished, showing 
how dumb machinery is driving out laborers. It will not do 
to suggest that these farm laborers go to other sections of the 
country and take up farms of their own, or that the farms now 
occupied seek to increase their products by intensive methods. 
The world's capacity to consume breadstuffs is strictly limited ; 
and, even if farming lands were still open and Uncle Sam 
were still liberal enough to 'give us all a farm,' suppositions 
that are thinkable but not practicable, we should be very 
seriously troubled to find markets. 



170 POLITICAL THUGGERY. 

Perhaps it should be said also in this connection that the 
introduction and use of machinery in agriculture has worked 
at the other end of the equation, and the laborers who have 
been displaced by machinery on the farm have, by the very 
demand for agricultural machinery, been called to the city to 
labor in the factories where this machinery is made. They 
may have a feeling of Satisfaction in the reflection that the 
machine which has crowded them out of the fields is itself 
dependent on them for manufacture ; but if they are wise men, 
with conditions what they now are in the factory and in the 
city, they will none the less lament the change. 

MECHANICAL VERSUS MUSCULAR POWER. 

And they are not long in the city until they discover that 
a multitude of operations in the factory that formerly required 
the human hand are now performed by still other machinery. 
The very word ''manufacturer" is a witness. It means literally 
one who makes by hand. But if the manufacturer of today 
were compelled to resort to hand labor for every process, he 
would immediately find that his product would be cut down 
from one-half to four-fifths, and the cost would be correspond- 
ingly increased. Newell Dwight Hillis relates an incident 
which once came under his observation. He says a public 
exhibition was made of a new machine. It was entirely suc- 
cessful, and the inventor received the congratulations of all 
his friends. But a stalwart man, with a sinewy frame and 
bronzed face, went out from the exhibition in tears. He said, 
''I entered that room as master of a trade at which I was able 
to earn $5 a day. It was my ambition to give my children a 
better chance in life than their father ever had, and I was able 
to do it. But that machine has taken my place and the places 
of such as I." It is a pathetic story, and yet it is only an inci- 
dent in the encroachment of mechanical upon muscular energy. 

When the human hand was employed instead of machin- 
ery, manufacture was for the most part individual. The 
worker Avas independent and every workman could have his 
own shop. He could be the stockholder, the director, the 
superintendent and the operative, all in one. He owned the 
few and simple tools of his trade; but, with the introduction 
of mechanical power, the factory system sprung up ; another 
man, or set of men, owned the tools ; and labor, no matter how 
skilled, immediately became a commodity. The laborers were 
compelled to gather around the machinery which was set up, 



MISSOURI'S BATTLE WITH THE BOODLERS. 171 

and toil in danger from whirling wheels, and humming spin- 
dles, and foul air, under such conditions as their masters chose 
to give. 

Dr. Strong tells us that in 1840, 21.79 P^^ ^^^^^ of all our 
population were engaged in agriculture. In 1870 the propor- 
tion had fallen to 15.43 per cent; in 1880, it was 15.38 per 
cent, and in 1890, only 13.68 per cent. On the other hand, 4.12 
per cent of the population were employed in manufactures in 
1850; and 7.52 per cent in 1890. By the close of the century 
the proportion engaged in manufactures will no doubt be twice 
as large as it was fifty years earlier. As the world's popula- 
tion increases, there will be an increasing demand for further 
production, but this increased demand will be more than met 
by the increase of machinery in agriculture and of mechanical 
power. We have forever passed the time when we can hope 
for a turn of the tide from the factory to the farm. 

THE RAIL HIGHWAYS. 

Still another factor should be mentioned in this connection 
as a procuring cause of the growth of the great cities. The 
network of railways covering the country makes transporta- 
tion easy, rapid and comfortable. It is proverbial that unless 
a railway makes a terminus of a town which it touches, it is 
seldom of any real advantage; while, if it sweeps by a few 
miles away, it must result in practically killing the town, 
although perhaps another may spring up near at hand. Before 
we had our railways, the transportation of food products was 
a very serious problem. But this problem has been solved 
now once and for all ; and the great masses of population can be 
fed and sustained with all the necessaries of life by these great 
throbbing arteries of trade. A local famine in any city, or in 
any section of the country, will never more be possible. 

The railway is a great distributor for the factories as well 
as for the farm, and manufacturers naturally drift into the 
great railroad centres where they can have every facility for 
transporting their goods to market. The freight and pas- 
senger trains running into the city assist in developing the 
city, and so likewise do the trains running out from the city. 
It is no exaggeration to say that every tr^in, whether depart- 
ing from a great union station or entering it, is making a 
.definite contribution to the city's growth. No one expects the 
time ever to come when we shall have fewer railways or fewer 
trains, but quite the contrary. 



172 POLITICAL THUGGERY. 

Men are naturally gregarious. Indeed, so also are the 
lower orders of creation. Fish go in schools ; sheep in flocks ; 
cattle in herds ; bees in swarms ; and men, even in a savage 
state, are found in tribes. General Booth of the Salvation 
Army has been working for years to colonize the slum popu- 
lation upon farming lands. He wants to get back to the soil, 
and there can be no question as to the soundness of his the- 
ories, any more than there can be as to the sincerity and earn- 
estness and unselfishness of his purpose. 

"STUMPS AIN'T FOLKS." 

But General Booth is overlooking some of the most 
marked economic tendencies of the times. Many incidents 
have occurred in the history of such undertakings which em- 
phasize the facts already stated. A story is told of a family j 
of Germans who were found by some settlement workers in ; 
absolute want and squalor in the slums of Chicago. At con- 
siderable cost, both in labor and money, the family were trans- 
ported into the country and comfortably settled upon a piece 
of land. At first they seemed to be very happy indeed. But 
greatly to their surprise, after a few months had passed, the 
settlement workers found them back in the city slums. They 
asked in amazement, "Were you not well provided for on the 
farm?" "Oh, yes," was their reply. "Why, then, have you left 
the farm and come back to this place?" An effort was made 
at explanation and apology, but the gist of the reply is con- 
tained in the answer of the old woman, ''Stumps ain't folks !" 

There is something of hope in the Good Roads Movement 
which will help to redeem country life from isolation and lone- 
liness. The extension of telephone service to farm houses, 
rural free mail delivery, and other advantages, are doing much 
to assist in making country life exceedingly attractive. There ' 1 
may be occasionally a family who will grow tired of the \ 
deprivations of the crowded city life and endeavor to occupy i 
a country home, or at least a home in the city suburbs. No I 
matter what may be the additional attractions of the country, 
the counter-attractions of the city must always exert a pre- 
ponderating influence. 

A statistician, who is eminently careful and reliable, stated 
a few days ago that if the goods manufactured in one year, by 
the three million factory operatives of the United States, were 
to be made by hand, their production would require the labor 
of one hundred and fifty million people; that is, machinery 



MISSOURI'S BATTLE WITH THE BOODLERS. 173 

is fifty times as productive as hand labor alone. And this ratio 
will not be diminished by superior skill or handicraft, nor by 
defective machinery, nor by a halt in the march of invention. 
Rather, it will be increased from year to year. A fact which 
should not be overlooked in the changes taking place on the 
farm is that the work of the well-made machine is better than 
hand work. For example, '-In the days of Queen Anne the 
wheat fields of England used to yield 15 bushels to the acre. 
The little peasant farms of France and Germany yield about 
the same amount now^ Today, with large fields and improved 
agricultural methods, the average yield for the United King- 
dom is 36 bushels per acre. In France and Germany, where the old 
methods of hand labor largely prevail, each male person 
employed produces on an average, respectively, only 220 or 245 
bushels of wheat each year. In England, where modern meth- 
ods prevail, the average production of each person Is 540 bush- 
els. In the United States it is 820 bushels. One farmer like 
Dr. Glenn of California, or Mr. Dalrymple of Dakota, with a 
field of wheat covering one hundred square miles, can raise 
as much grain with four hundred farm servants as five hun- 
dred peasant proprietors in France." 

There was a time in the United States when we took 
special pride in our great cities, but we soon discovered that 
a great city is something to be warned of, as well as something 
to be proud of. When Chicago and Philadelphia, during the 
census of ten years ago, were rivalling each other, a Chicago 
paper had the discernment to say that they were quite willing 
to let Philadelphia keep the place, if she would exchange five 
hundred of her good old Quaker citizens for a few thousand of 
Chicago's anarchists. The threat of the city is treated in 
another chapter. In this brief and hurried summary, we have 
simply tried to make clear the fact that the cities are grow- 
ing at a prodigious rate, and that the time is soon coming 
when by sheer force of numbers the cities must dominate the 
State and the nation. To quote from ''Modern Cities" by 
Samuel Lane Loomis : 

''Such reasons as these afford abundant explanation for 
the phenomenal increase of urban population in modern times. 
Civilization has promoted the growth of the great towns by 
augmenting their natural attractiveness, the facilities for reaching 
them and the opportunities of earning a livelihood within 
them, and, at the same time, by decreasing the obstacles and 



174 POLITICAL THUGGERY. 

broadening the natural limits to their growth. It has brought 
to them an unlimited supply of cheap food, greater wealth to 
meet the costliness of city residences, and to overcome by 
proper sanitar}^ arrangements the unhealthfulness of their 
crowded life. And, finally, it has been continually changing 
the balance of the demand for work and workers, from thfe 
country to the town. 

THE STARS IN THEIR COURSES. 

"So long as such causes as these prevail, the cities of 
Christendom will continue rolling themselves up to ever vaster 
size ; but these causes as yet show no diminution in their influ- 
ence ; nor, so far as one may- judge, are they likely to do so 
for generations to come. The present may be the age of great 
cities, but the future is the age of the greater. This must 
especially be the case with the United States. The youngest 
of the nations has already more large cities than any, except 
Great Britain and German}-. Though still in their infancy, 
our principal towns surpass in size and in the tumult of their 
life, many of the older and flourishing capitals of Europe. 
With the country growing in population at a rate unprece- 
dented in the annals of all times, and the towns growing twice 
as fast ; with what seems a certainty of having as many inhab- 
itants within one hundred years as all Europe has at present; 
with every probability that the people of the twentieth cen- 
tury will centralize themselves even more than those of the 
nineteenth, the _ United States may fairly expect to possess 
cities whose greatness can not be equalled by anything that 
the world has yet seen. 

"All efforts to arrest the progress of the cities and to check 
the population that continually flows into them, must be fruit- 
less. The great social movements of the age cannot be stopped. 
Each successive year is certain to see a smaller place for the 
workers of the world in the fields and on the farms and a larger 
place in shops, counting-rooms, oflices, banks, manufactories, 
and the myriad industries that make their home in the metrop- 
olis. 

''Let it not be assumed that great cities are of necessitv 
what Thomas Jefferson called them : 'Great sores upon the 
body politic' Nothing is evil that is in the best sense natural, 
development of human society. They are found among the 
and the formation of great cities is a normal result of a high 



MISSOURI'S BATTLE WITH THE BOODLERS. 175 

purest and most advanced of nations ; they come in the most 
enlightened times ; the evil of them is not in -their size, but 
in the avarice, luxury, oppression, and vice that haunt them. 

"The wisest efforts of philanthropy will not be spent in 
the vain effort to prevent the incoming of men to them, but 
in the effort to make them better places for human habitation ; 
not in checking their growth, but in quenching their iniquity." 

We do not hesitate to affirm that if the money which has 
been stolen, squandered, and misappropriated in any of our large 
American cities had been honestly applied, they would now be 
among the most beautiful and healthful places of human habita- 
tion on the globe. Instead of presenting piteous contrasts be- 
tween the abodes of the well-to-do and the abodes of the middle 
classes and the poor, they would afford instructive object lessons 
upon the phenomenal resources of the modern city, when it comes 
to the great question of properly housing its swarming population. 

It is never, in America, a question of resources. There is 
money enough found to govern the cities wretchedly, and to enrich 
scores of traitorous pubHc officials. The real problem is encoun- 
tered when we appeal to the civic conscience, — and find that it is 
not! Men are preoccupied, overworked, indifferent. They may 
have a conscience on a great many subjects, but when it comes to 
the matter of local municipal government, 'they are as devoid of 
conscience as a Fiji Islander. So this is the point for the applica- 
tion of our power, — to awaken men's consciences upon the sub- 
ject of the city's government; to teach them that they are respon- 
sible for that government ; that the city is their larger home ; and 
that out of their relations to their fellow citizens grow obligations 
which cannot be shirked without offense. 

Judge Alton B. Parker, prominent as a candidate for the 
Presidential nomination, deHvered an address to the graduating 
class at Union College in 1901, in which he spoke of the place and 
power of educated men in politics ; and in closing his speech, he 
said : 

'T have thus briefly called your attention to a broad field, 
which requires the labor of many cultivators if the weeds that 
menace the choice grain which all would have come to maturity 
are to be kept down, and have also suggested that it is the special 
duty of men with your advantages to take part in that work, and 



9 

176 POLITICAL THUGGERY. 

I beg leave in passing to remind you that the satisfaction which 
comes of the consciousness of duty well performed will compen- 
sate you for your efforts. But if you are ambitious for power 
and place in government, they also are quite likely to come either 
because of faithful and efficient service personally rendered in 
humble positions at the beginning, or as a result of the contribu- 
tion of intelligent political effort toward filling public offices with 
men whose ambition is to serve the public well. 

'It may well be said that some of your best efforts in behalf 
of the public will prove ineffective, indeed, may seem to be un- 
appreciated ; but remember that you are not striving for appre- 
ciation, but only to accomplish results for those who need your 
services ; whether they realize it or not — that yours is a higher 
ideal than to secure personal applause ; it embraces a war against 
wrongs and a struggle for justice for those who are sadly in need 
of it. 

''Be not discouraged ! Press on ! supported by the assurance 
which the history of civilization gives, that right and justice will 
in the end prevail." 

More workers would have continued in this difficult field of 
municipal redemption if they had taken the learned Judge's ad- 
vice — "remember that you are not striving for appreciation." 
There are multitudes in 3^our city who need your service ; without 
they languish and die. But they do not know when you have 
blessed them, any more than they know what they need or how to 
procure it. The world municipal cannot be redeemed and re- 
generated on any new plan ; it will always require unrequited 
service. Some toilers must miss the palms, but not the pains, of 
martyrdom. 



Chapter XII. 
CITIES OF DESTRUCTION. 



12 



Even the best of modern civilization appears to nie to exhibit 
a condition of mankind which neitlicr embodies any worthy ideal 
nor even possesses the merit of stability. I do not hesitate to ex- 
press the opinion that if there is no hope of a large improvement in 
the condition of the greater part of the hnman family; if it is trne 
that the increase of knowledge, the zvinning of a greater dominion 
over nature zMch is its consequence, and the wealth zvhich follows 
upon that dominion, are to make no difference in the extent and 
the intensity of zvant zvith its concomitant physical and moral 
degradation among the masses of the people, I should hail the 
advent of some kindly comet ivhich zvould szi'eep the zvhole affair 
awa\, as a desirable consummation. — Hnxley. 



CHAPTER XII. 



CITIES OF DESTRUCTION. 



PROVINCIALISM AND SNOBBERY — WHY STUDY CITIES — PERILS AND 

PROBLEMS — THE OLD QUARREL MUNICIPAL MISGOVERN- 

MENT DESTRUCTION OF THE HOME ALTARS DESERTED 

HEARTS HARDENED — THE CITY JUNGLE. 



John Bunyaii's immortal vision of a City of Destruction, 
with its escaping pilgrims bound for the Celestial City fur- 
nishes an apt allegory of the present time. Cities are every- 
where and inevitably, under modern conditions, to some extent 
at least, cities of destruction. There are many very beautiful 
things in the city, and it is not impossible to, live among them 
and close one's eyes to those features which are baleful and 
menacing, but an intelligent person is not likely to adopt such 
a course. 

PROVINCIALISM AND SNOBBERY. 

In the first place, city dwellers are inclined to provincial- 
ism and snobbery. Their lives are so full that they think little, 
if at all, of the great world which rolls and surges beyond the 
limits of their own town, or indeed beyond their own ward. 
New York, the metropolis of the nation, is wanting in geo- 
graphical perspective. There are many people in this great 
city who have never been beyond it and who think that buffalo 
and wild Indians still range on the plains of the Mississippi ; 
but there are citizens in St. Louis not one^whit better, when it 
comes to an adequate conception of the immensity of our coun- 
try, especially that which lies still further to the west. Our 
'country cousins,' as they are sometimes called, know full well 
that there is sometimes a feeling of downright antagonism, and 
hatred is thereby engendered. This is entirely natural, as 
the- city dweller holds himself with lofty disdain above his 
rural neighbor. 

Suppose he does wear better fitting garments and live in 
a finer house and draw a larger salary! These things do not 



180 POLITICAL THUGGERY. 

necessarily mark a liner grade of humanity. The population 
of the great city has been recruited from the country, and 
there are few American cities in which the leaders of enterprise 
and of thought are removed more than one generation frorn 
the country. It has often been said that we might burn our 
cities to the ground, leaving the farming country intact, and 
in a little while the cities would rise, Phoenix like, from their 
ashes ; but, if the farms were destroyed, the cities must neces- 
sarily perish. 

The attitude of the snob is impossible to an intelligent, 
cultivated person ; and it is as absurd and illogical, as it should 
be impossible, to everybody capable of consecutive thought. 

WHY STUDY CITIES. 

It is important for us to study the problem of the city, not 
only for the good of the cities themselves, but also for the 
common good ; for the cities are the determining factors in our 
civilization. If they' become permeated with corruption ; if 
they yield to the .tyranny of Mammon and worship at the 
shrine of a fatuous and voluptuous fashion ; if their industry 
is organized injustice, and the wheels of their factories grind 
up the bodies and souls of living men, then the fiery-footed 
avengers of social outrage will sweep down upon them and 
whelm the State with them in a common ruin. But we must 
reckon our cities not only as great throbbing centers of con- 
trolling influence, but be preparing for the time when, con- 
taining a majority of the population, they will by sheer force 
of numbers shape the destiny of the Republic. 

PERILS AND PROBLEMS. 

In the city, all social problems are aggravated and com- 
plicated. The vicious and the criminal form communities, and 
the peculiar wickedness of each soon becomes the -possession 
of all. Dangerous characters are encouraged by companion- 
ship. The wise rearing of children, always and everywhere a 
delicate and difficult matter, becomes by force of circumstances 
well nigh impossible. 

It is difficult enough in our towns and rural neighborhoods 
to incline men to a righteous and Christian life ; but in our 
cities it becomes the despair of the most sanguine. Armies of 
employees, such as street car men, firemen and others, are, 
by the very nature of their work, debarred from all church 
privileges. Nor can they be reached by the most enterprising 



MISSOURI'S BATTLE WITH THE BOODLERS. 181 

and aggressive methods. Still others are kept away from the 
churches by the hard, cruel fact of poverty, while not an incon- 
siderable number are deterred by physical exhaustion. 

All the materializing forces of society are strongest and 
most vigorous here. The temples of Mammon stand splendid 
and overawing. The pursuit of wealth is as feverish and 
relentless as fate. Fortunes are made in a day by a lucky turn 
on 'Change; speculation in every line of trade is rife; men turn 
easily to the flip of the cards or the throw of dice, or rush away 
from the drudgery of their desks to "play the races." The 
wiiole population seems to have gone mad in its greed of gold. 
All the evidences of wealth are many times multipHed. Pal- 
aces that rival the magnificence of oriental kings loom up 
grandly in the midst of charming parks, where fountains play 
and flowers blossom ; elegantly clad men and women pass in 
and out, served by a retinue of domestics ; carriages drawn by 
fretting thoroughbreds flash by in the sunlight, gorgeous in 
gold and silver mountings, proud with coachman and foot- 
man. The eye is fed, and the ear is fed, and the appetite is 
fed, and whole populations are bound in the silken chains of 
sensualism — a sensualism which begins in a gilded form, but 
rapidly and surely bears its votaries to the awful end of moral 
leprosy and social decay. 

At the opposite social extreme move and operate with 
deadly and cumulative effect the same debasing passions, 
though under widely different exteriors. Luxury and poverty 
breed ennui and despair, and both by the same process of 
uncurbed sensualism. The rich are sensualists by their abun- 
dance, and the poor by their need. Extremes meet. 

It is comparatively easy in a great city to lead a dual life. 
A block from your home no ane knows you, or cares who you 
are or what you do. Excuses and explanations are easy, if they 
are not entirely satisfactory. And so 'the means to do ill deeds 
make ill deeds done'. 

The mere fact that men are brought into close proximity 
in the city suggests the aggravation of all social disorders, 
and the creation of new ones. It is on the same principle that 
to focus the sun's rays intensifies their heat. Focusing all the 
divergent rays of human life creates heat. 

We look almost in vain in our cities for homes. If there 
were nothing but cities in the world, such songs as "Home, 
Sweet Home" would never have been written. Imagine the 



182 ' POLITICAL THUGGERY. 

old motto that we used to hang in the best room in the old 
homestead "God bless our home," changed to meet the new 
conditions so as to read "God bless our flat !" Boarding houses 
are common — some of them, exceedingly common ! To extin- 
guish the home means the obliteration of the most sacred 
instincts of the human soul, with consequent peril to society. 

Foreigners are attracted as if by a spell to the cities, and 
tramp thither like invading armies. They gather in clusters, 
each nationality grouped by itself, and lie there like crude 
masses of undigested and indigestible food. They come with 
the mark of centuries of oppression and the brand of ignorance 
and superstition and vice upon them and settle themselves in 
such a way that these undesirable traits are perpetuated. For- 
eign missions are thus brought to our very doors, and the Man 
of Macedonia stands and pleads in our streets. 

THE OLD QUARREL. 

In the midst of such extremes as the city presents, the old 
quarrel between the "haves" and the have-nots" rages with 
threatening violence. Laborers are formed into unions, and 
capitalists mass their strength, until, by vicious or incompetent 
leadership, they both menace the peace and stability of the 
government. Involuntary idleness abounds, a rude and paup- 
erizing charity is dispensed, and by the presssure of the lower 
wants, men are crowded out of respectability and become 
dependents and delinquents. In the midst of all this, there is 
a savage discontent which bodes no good for the future. The 
social organization is such that it is working out its own ruin, 
and unless we repent, there will burst out upon us a storm 
that will not, of all our magnificence, leave one stone upon 
another ! 

MUNICIPAL MISGOVERNMENT. 

All these problems, grave enough and menacing enough 
of themselves, are, as we have seen, aggravated by a farcical 
and ruinous condition of municipal government. So notorious 
are the facts that the mere mention of the term "municipal 
government" calls up a lurid vision of chicanery and boodlery 
and infamy. In his "American Commonwealth," James Boyce 
declares, "There is no denying that the government of cities 
is one conspicuous failure of the United States. The defi- 
ciencies of the national government tell but little for evil on 
the welfare of the people. The faults of the State governments 



MISSOURI'S BATTLE WITH THE BOODLERS. 183 

are insignificant compared with the extravagance, corruption 
and mismanagement which mark the administration of most 
of the great cities." In his own original way, Dr. Parkhiirst 
says, "All American cities of any considerable size are sub- 
stantially circumstanced in much the same way. Virtue is at 
the bottom and knavery on top. The rascals are out of jail 
and standing guard over men who aim to be honorable and 
law-abiding." 

Among the official classes and extending to a goodly pro- 
portion of the entire community there is a mischievous spirit 
of lawlessness. It consists of law-breakings but it has its 
beginning in a total lack of reverence for law, and an absurd 
classification of laws and offenses. For instance, let a fellow 
steal a loaf of bread to appease his hunger and he will be sent 
to the workhouse. Let him run a hell-hole called a "dive," and 
break every law on the statute book, and he will be sent 
to the House of Delegates, to legislate for the whole city; 
whence, in due course of time, he is sent to Congress ! Now% 
compare the enormity of the two classes of crime. Measure 
their relative reach into the community and their power for 
working social damnation. Or compare the two criminals. 

The fellow who steals the loaf of bread may be, and often 
is, an honest man out of employment from no fault of his 
own, starving in the midst of plenty. But the other fellow is 
a gross, lecherous scoundrel, without a vestige of conscience 
in his whole obese anatomy. His only conception of virtue 
is that it has a market value ; his only use for it, to discount it 
for cash. No pirate on the high seas ever wrought such 
ruin as he works ; no train-robber ever committed such depre- 
dations against the social weal. And yet he goes to Congress. 
He is the patron saint of drunkenness, prostitution and gam- 
bling. But he is no criminal because, forsooth, he has an out- 
ward seeming of respectability and a powerful political pull ! 

The saloon finds its green pastures in the crowded cities. 
Here all the indirect causes of drunkenness conspire to plunge 
men into the vortex; misfortune, exhausting toil, impure air, 
cheap and innutritions food, etc., etc., and the saloon barons 
are not slow to take advantage of it. Saloons range from one 
to every five hundred of the population to one to every hun- 
dren and twenty. We all know something of the pauperizing 
and debasing influence of the liquor traffic. Harlotry and 



184 POLITICAL THUGGERY. 

drunkenness lie upon the same couch, and every minor offense 
known to the statutes swarm over them like vermin. 

Men without money, mind or morals, are chosen for high 
and responsible positions in our municipal service. The very 
worst thing that could happen to many of our city officials 
would be the publication of their biography ! Make criminals 
officers; and, as a matter of course, crime is officially pro- 
tected. And in such an atmosphere as this, boys and girls are 
being reared and the church is trying to save souls, and the 
home is trying to conserve its peace and purity. 

DESTRUCTION OF THE HOME. 

The destruction of the home which takes place in our 
large cities is a fearful menace to law and order. General 
Booth says, "A father who never dandles his child on his 
knee can not have a very keen sense of the responsibilities of 
paternity. In the rush and pressure of our competitive city 
life, thousands of men have not time to be good fathers. Sires, 
yes ; fathers, no. It will take a good deal of school-master to 
make up for that change. If this be the case, even with the 
children constantly employed, it can be imagined what kind 
of home life is possessed by the children of the tramp, the odd- 
jobber, the thief and the harlot. For all these people have 
children, although they have no homes in which to rear them. 

"Not a bird in all the woods or fields but prepares some 
kind of a nest in which to hatch and rear its young, even if it 
be a hole in the sand, or a few crossed sticks in the bush. But 
how many yr.ung ones amongst our people are hatched before 
any nest is 'eady to receive them I ^ h-- >i^ * When an 
English Judge tells us, as Mr. Justice Wills did the other day, 
that there are any number of parents who would kill their 
children for a few pounds' insurance money, we can form 
some idea of the horrors of the existence into which many of 
the children of this highly favored land are ushered at their 
birth." 

Multitudes of families are compelled to live in one room, 
and sometimes even this room must be divided with outsiders. 
It is absolutely impossible imder such conditions to rear chil- 
dren with any conception of virtue. They are compelled to 
witness everything. Think of it. In our American cities 
scores and hundreds of our families live in one room. 
One room to eat and drink in ; one room to wash and dress in ; 



MISSOURI'S BATTLE WITH THE BOODLERS. 185 

one room to sleep in ; one room to be sick and to die in ! Now, 
remember that the pressure of economic necessity is crowding 
our population more and more every year into the stifling city ; 
and in the city, into the still more stifling tenement. 

A fair sample of what we may expect when the pressure 
of the population will in any measure justify it, is furnished 
by the greed and avarice of St. Louis landlords during the 
World's Fair period of 1904. With the Fair still a month off, 
rents were advanced from 100 to 500 per cent. Families 
utterly unable to meet this advanced charge, were evicted. 
Landladies were compelled to double or treble their regular 
rates for board, but salaries and wages were not doubled, nor 
could they be. 

If the conditions which prevail at this writing continue, it 
must result in a painful paralysis of business, if not in perma- 
nent injury to the World's Fair and to the city of St. Louis. 
But this is merely an illustration, as we said before, of what 
we may expect when, by the pressure of economic necessity, 
the opportunity to exploit their fellow man is offered jto those 
who own the land. 

We cannot in a brief chapter enumerate all the forces that 
threaten to undermine and destroy human homes. A boarding 
house or a family hotel is no fit substitute for that place where 
one man is the husband of one wife, and where little children 
are born and welcomed into the arms of parental love. The 

ALTARS DESERTED. 

altars of religion are also deserted and sometimes destroyed. 
We do not refer now to any particular creed or sect. Some- 
one has said that the religion of all good men is the same. 
Certainly human society can not exist in ordered forms, with 
free institutions and a progressive civilization, without 
religion. 

Tramps do not go to church, and, at the other extreme of 
society, millionaires, who have many houses but no home, 
are not noted for church-going either. They and their families 
are in the cit)/ for a little while during the winter, but they 
are off to their summer home for the rest of the year, or they 
make a trip through Europe, or a tour around the world. They 
are tramps of another sort. 

Men who are compelled to toil, so that from month to 
month they do not see the faces of their children by daylight. 



186 POLITICAL THUGGERY. 

can scarcely be expected to pay much attention to the church 
on the one day in seven which is free from toil. We have 
already referred to street car men, firemen, and other laborers, 
the very nature of whose work compels longer and harder 
labor, at least in some cases, on the Lord's day. Povert}' 
lays its paralyzing hand upon the great masses of the city's 
population, and because of human pride sternly forbids their 
entering the sanctuary. 

The tendency is for the churches to accept the stratifica- 
tion of society ; so that we have churches for merchants, man- 
ufacturers, clerks, salesmen and the professional classes, and 
other churches for the factory operatives and wageworkers. 
The old Psalmist said, "The rich and the poor meet together; 
the Lord is maker of them all." But there are very few 
churches in any of our modern cities, where the different 
classes are segregated, in which fhis remains true. 

HEARTS HARDENED. — 

The competitive system of industry, together with the 
headlong haste of city life, hardens people's hearts and destroys 
human sympathy. Men are tried as by fire, and they must be 
righteous indeed wTio maintain the best of their manly attri- 
butes. It is the merest commonplace to live next door to a 
family whom you never see, and whose name you do not 
know, any more than you know the business in which the 
breadwinner is engaged, or the cares and sorrows that burden 
their hearts. There may be sickness and death in the flat 
above you, or the flat below you, in the flat to the right of you, 
or the flat to the left of you, of which you know nothing at all 
until you see the crape on the door. 

When living in Chicago, the writer was called upon to 
conduct the funeral service of a prominent business man whose 
career covered three or four decades of the great metropolis. 
It is a pathetic fact that some of his most intimate friends and 
associates were so tied to their desks by the multitudinous 
demands of the day's business that they could not get away 
to attend his funeral ! In the midst of the awful conditions 
which prevail in the modern city, character is imperilled. The 
sweeter and tenderer sentiments of the human heart are stifled, 
and multitudes of men and women become mere human 
machines. 



MISSOURI'S BATTLE WITH THE BOODLERS. 187 

General Booth says, in his book entitled "In Darkest 
England," that the Equatorial forest of Africa which Stanley 
traversed resembles the slums of London and other English 

THE CITY JUNGLE. 

cities. So, too, it resembles the slums of our own American 
cities. The city jungle may be fittingly characterized as the 
great "Slough of Despond" of our time. "And what a slough 
it is no man can gauge who has not waded therein, as some 
of us have done, up to the very neck for long years. Talk 
about Dante's Hell, and all the horrors and cruelties of the 
torture-chamber of the lost! The man who walks with open 
eyes and with bleeding heart through the shambles of our 
civilization needs no such fantastic images of the poet to teach 
him horror. 

"Often and often, when I have seen the young and the 
poor and the helpless go down before my eyes into the morass, 
trampled underfoot by beasts of pray in human shape that 
haunt these regions, it seemed as if God were no longer in His 
A-orld, but that in His stead reigned a fiend, merciless as Hell, 
ruthless as the grave. Hard it is, no doubt, to read in Stanley's 
pages of the slave-traders coldly arranging for the surprise 
of a village, the capture of the inhibitants, the massacre of 
those who resist, and the violation of all the women ; but the 
stony streets of London, if they could but speak, would tell 
of tragedies as awful, of ruin as complete, of ravishments as 
horrible, as if we were in Central Africa ; only the ghastly 
devastation is covered, corpse-like, with the artificialities and 
hypocrisies of modern civilization." 

Every word is equally appropriate to the slums of Amer- 
ican cities, where the infamous tragedy is being enacted year 
in and year out under the Stars and Stripes, the banner of the 
free ! The exhibit of municipal government in St. Louis and 
Kansas City, the stories of election outrages, of fraud and 
violence, suffice to make clear some of the ways in wdiicli 
democratic institutions are being destroyed. Suppose these 
two cities had dominated the State, — then what? 

Some say that the time is near at hand when the cities will 
dominate the country. And unless some stronger decentralizing 
force steps in and begins to scatter population, some force far 
stronger than any at present in operation, the prophecy must soon 



188 POLITICAL THUGGERY. 

find its fulfillment. So if we are to maintain a high ideal of 
human life on the planet we must give ourselves unreservedly to 
the study of the municipal problem. We must set into active and 
vigorous operation forces that are conciliatory, remedial, edu- 
cational ; and we must not stand upon the order of our doing it, 
— we must do it now ! 

Let us believe sincerely that the time is coming when our 
cities will be rebuilt ; they are changing now. The crowded tene- 
ment will give way to sanitary apartments, with every conven- 
ience of modern life. Instead of the crowded, festering court, 
there will be gardens and fountains. The hot, narrow, city street, 
a veritable Via Dolorosa to the teeming multitudes, will widen to 
embrace a park where trees will lift themselves over blossoming 
flowers. Business will be no longer a cruel Juggernaut, but an 
exchange of brotherly sympathy. Saloons and other businesses 
that prey upon the vices or the weaknesses of men will give place 
to libraries and reading rooms ; art galleries will abound, and the 
city will illustrate what men can do when they live for one an- 
other, instead of trying to live off one another. 



Chapter XIII. 
THE BOSS. 



A man of insight, too; zvith resolution, even zvith manful 
principles but in such an element, inward and outzi^ard; zvhich 
he could not rule, but only madden. Edacity, rapacity — quite 
contrary to the finer sensibilities of the heart! Fools, that ex- 
pect your verdant millenium, and nothing but love and abundanxe, 
brooks ru lining zmne, zvinds zvhispering music — zuith the zvhole 
ground and basis of your existence champed into a mud of sen- 
suality zvhich, daily grozving deeper, zvill soon have no bottom 
but the abyss! — Thomas Carlyle. 



CHAPTER XIII. 



THE BOSS. 



MACHINERY NECESSARY THE BOSS A CREATURE RESOURCES AND 

POWER POLITICS A TRADE IMMENSE REVENUES MAD 

WITH GREED CONTINUOUS CARNIVAL A NARROW SPHERE 

DISCROWNED AND DETHRONED THE JiEAL HENCHMEN. 



What has already been said about the conditions in our 
large cities is enough to indicate the possible resources which may 
be marshalled for evil by anyone who has sufficient executive 
ability and little enough of conscience. The very conditions of 
life in the larger cities are such as to invite, or even to create, 
unscrupulous leadership. The commercial spirit is in politics as 
much as it is in business, and there is in every community a 
group of men who devote their time and their ability to poli- 
tics as exclusively as others devote themselves to the practice of 
law or medicine or to merchandise. 



MACHINERY NECESSARY. 



These men might be honorable and useful. No matter what 
forces may be utilized in the election machinery or in the ad- 
ministration of a city or a State, organization is indispensable. 
There must be a central organization, with subordinate groups 
in every ward of the city. A tremendous volume of expense 
may be honestly incurred in managing these political organiza- 
tions. Halls and offices must be rented ; the expenses of a lit- 
erary bureau must be met ; likewise the expenses of speakers who 
travel over the country. Large sums of money must be raised 
and disbursed, but it is not at all necessary that the corrupt 
use of money should figure in the expense budget. 

But of course there comes the temptation to use money in 
corrupt ways. It is well understood that multitudes are ready 
to sell their votes. There are minor leaders with considerable 



192 POLITICAL THUGGERY. 

following who stand ready to deliver, for a suitable considera- 
tion, every vote which they control. There are likewise vested 
interests, the managers of which are ready to make handsome 
contributions to the campaign fund, provided an agreement or 
understanding can be had as to protective legislation after the 
election. 

These are elements enough to give the boss his opportunity. 
His figure slinks in the background of every outrage. If he did 
not exist in a single city in the land, he would spring up to meet 
these very conditions and to perform these functions. The field 
which the boss and his adjutants occupy is as broad as the na- 
tion. There are times when in a closely contested election, re- 
sults hinge on some particular State which is controlled by some 
large city or by a group of cities. Such conditions put the bal- 
ance of power in the city, and therefore in the hands of the city's 
boss. It is not a pleasant thing to contemplate, but it is very 
easily possible that a man like Butler of St. Louis may, at any 
time, be able to determine a national election. 

The organization of the great political parties ranges from 
the national headquarters with the National Committee down 
to the smallest and most contemptible court-house ring in the 
backwoods counties. Millions and millions of dollars in the 
way of salaries to officers ; moneys to be paid on government 
and municipal contracts, etc., are the stake for which the game 
is played. It is an easy matter to drive through any large city 
and point out one splendid property after another, both business 
and residence properties, which are a part of the gains of some 
municipal or government contract — gains which are understood 
to be in excess of a fair profit on the work done. 

THE BOSS A CREATURE. 

Enough has been said to show that the political boss, with 
his underlings, is a creature and not a creator. He is as much 
the result of prevailing conditions, as much the answer to an 
imperative demand, as the commanding general of an army. We 
have a splendid pen picture of a typical boss in a paragraph which 
has been widely quoted from The Times-Herald of Chicago : 

"He is absolute master of the majority of the council, * * 
As leader of the boodlers, he can suppress any measure submitted 



MISSOURI'S BATTLE WITH THE BOODLERS. 193 

by a decent member, and make it impossible for an honest alder- 
man to put through a single piece of constructive legislation. As 
^ chairman of the finance committee, he holds the Department of 
Public Works, the Department of Health, the Police Department, 
and the School Board by the throat. He can even threaten the 
mayor himself. "^ * '^ Yet he is as ignorant and coarse a 
rufhan as would be encountered in a year's study of the slums 
of America. He is a saloon keeper and gambler, the captain 
and associate of criminals, whose morals are beneath contempt or 
pity, whose daily life it is almost a shame to mention. And this 
is the man who holds the purse-strings of Chicago, and is per- 
mitted to dictate to public officials who, in the ordinary affairs of 
life, would no more associate with him than with a leper." The 
Tiines-Herald adds : "Is there not manhood enough in public 
life, or power enough in the courts, or virtue in the criminal 
code to give this odious creature his deserts?" 

RESOURCES AND POWER. 

It should be said that the successful boss is necessarily a 
man of considerable ability of a certain kind.. He is generally 
a product of the very field in which he works. He grows up 
among his people and becomes their friend and patron. As he 
accumulates property, he practices a most discriminating charity. 
None of his lieutenants or followers ever make an appeal for 
help which goes unheard. If one of them is arrested for crime, 
the boss is ready, at any hour of the day or night, to furnish 
the necessary bail and exert his mighty influence for the release 
of the prisoner, or for the mitigation of any penalty which may 
be adjudicated. 

Sometimes an extension telephone rests on the table at the 
head of his bed, and the ring of that bell will receive his imme- 
diate and personal attention at any hour of the night. When 
Thanksgiving day comes, or Christmas, the boss frequently re- 
members scores of families with substantial gifts of food and 
clothing. He loads up several wagons and sends them through 
the wards over which he reigns with indisputable sway, and 
sometimes pays a personal visit, following in the wake of his 
own benevolence. And then, as a matter of course, when an 

13 



194 POLITICAL THUGGERY. 

election has been held and the victory is his, he distributes polit- 
ical patronage among his army of followers. 

He understands the ability of each man and wields sufficient 
influence to give him the right place. There are sinecures for his 
favorites, and jobs in the street-cleaning brigade for the humblest 
''Indian" in the ranks. Chief among his lieutenants are saloon 
keepers, each of whom controls a very active minority of the 
voters in his particular ward. He understands full well that his 
business flourishes best when the boss is in power, and, when 
spending time and money and pouring out liquor to carry an 
election, he is working for himself as well as the boss. 

POLITICS A TRADE. 

Politics is not something apart from his vocation, but some- 
thing vital to it. Indeed, this is true of the so-called self-denying 
efforts of the majority of these men. And it is herein that we 
find the chief difficulty between their participation in politics and 
that of the respectable classes. Politics is their trade, or at 
least one of the chief departments of their particular trade. They 
can say like the silver-smiths of old, "By this craft we have our 
wealth." 

But participation in public affairs for the so-called better 
classes is a patriotic duty, not a trade. They must answer the 
clarion call of duty, without seeing how they are to be directly 
benefited. It is none the less true that they are helped or hin- 
dered, enriched or impoverished, by the machinery of the State. 
But sometimes the hurt or the help is so far removed from the 
causes that bring it about, that they fail to understand the con- 
nection. 

IMMENSE REVENUES. 

We have already indicated some of the chief sources of the 
boss's power. He is powerful in his chosen realm, first, as the 
head of a great commercial enterprise is powerful in its realm. 
He handles an immense business. The municipality in which he 
finds his home is a great corporation with immense revenues to 
gather and to disburse; with tremendous enterprises to promote. 
He himself feels that the position he occupies is one of great honor 
as well as of great power. He knows that he will have for his 
intimate associates, intimate at least in business relations, some 



MISSOURI'S BATTLE WITH THE BOODLERS. 195 

of the foremost men of the city. And as long as the conditions 
make it possible for a man to hold the reins of government in 
his own hands, although not holding any office within the gift 
of the people, this will continue to be his chief resource. He will 
always have favors to distribute, influence to wield, and moneys 
to disburse, which would give him a large following, even if he 
had none at the outset. 

MAD WITH GREED. 

In another important particular we see the source of his 
power, namely, in that the great majority of his fellow citizens 
are so busy with their own affairs that they do not have time to 
give any particular attention to politics. The prizes of business 
are so many and so alluring that the population has gone mad 
with a greed of gain. Life has become complex and intricate. 
Extravagant tastes have been developed ; a costly mode of living 
has been adopted, and it has become imperatively necessary for 
the bread winners of every household to devote themselves with- 
out let or hindrance to money-making enterprises. 

After a family has moved into a given neighborhood and 
assumed a given scale of expenditure, they cannot retrench with- 
out their pride having a fall. These familiar and humiliating 
facts help to explain the headlong haste and intense absorption 
in business, to the neglect of civic duties, which characterize the 
so-called better element of citizenship. 

CONTINUOUS CARNIVAL. 

And besides these, there are in every city a small community 
of rich people among whom life is an endless round of amuse- 
ment, a continuous carnival of delight. No matter who keeps 
Lent, their passions are always engaged in riot. They may not 
be very numerous, and their influence may not reach very far be- 
yond their own ranks, but they are a social factor of no little 
power, nevertheless. 

It is their extravagance and ostentation which provokes 
the hatred of their fellow men, less fortunately circumstanced, 
toward all who are rich. It is their excesses that call forth the 
vindictive denunciations of social agitators, and in these ways 
they help to foment social strife and develop in every rank of 



196 POLITICAL THUGGERY. 

society a feeling of feverish unrest. They are likewise a cor- 
rupting element in the life of the city, and they bear a more or 
less clearly marked relationship to the civic corruption which 
beats and surges all about them. 

A NARROW SPHERE. 

Perhaps it ought to be said that, as a general thing, the re- 
ligious and moral teachers of our large cities live and labor in 
too narrow a sphere. This book itself bears witness to their 
irresistible power when they are once aroused on questions of 
great public concern. But in a Republican government like ours, 
the function of religious and moral teachers is necessarily wider 
than it could be under an autocratic government, and we feel 
that it is only fair to put the comparative silence of the pulpit 
and platform on questions of civic morality, among the procur- 
ing causes of the power of the boss. When they are silent, when 
they devote themselves exclusively to the other-world side of 
religion, then the boss and his minions feel that they have an 
unoccupied field over which they may move unmolested and spoil 
the municipality without protest. 

DISCROWNED AND DETHRONED. 

If the boss is ever to be dethroned permanently, it must be 
by changing some of the conditions which we have pointed out 
as furnishing him with the sinews of war and placing in his 
hands the scepter of power. He is as inevitably a product of 
modern social life as coin is of the government mint. It will not 
do to pour the vials of our wrath upon the poor fellow who, from 
generation to generation, chances to occupy his throne. This is 
eminently unscientific, and it can do but little aside from engen- 
dering further antagonism. 

We must not be so foolish and superficial as to spend our 
money and our time in doctoring mere symptoms, in skimming 
the surface. We must get down to fundamental conditions and 
deal with the real problem in all of its bearings. Must we not 
admit that the real henchmen of the boss are not the ward heelers 
and his staggering, hiccoughing followers, the criminal and 
semi-criminal of the slums, but rather that we ourselves, we who 
insist upon calling ourselves the "better classes," and yet dare 



MISSOURI'S BATTLE WITH THE BOODLERS. 197 

to neglect most of our civic duties, that we are his real hench- 
men ? 

It is everywhere understood that the non-participation of the 
so-called good people in politics, from the ward committee on up 
to the highest official, is as much a factor in bringing about the 
deplorable and lamentable conditions which shame us, as the tire- 
less activity of men in the lower ranks. Indeed, we feel that it 
is only fair to say that the hard working men, men who toil long 
hours with their hands, who are found in the ranks of the fol- 
lowers of the boss, are often inspired by a feeling of civic pride 
and local patriotism in the work committed to their hands. After 
a day of exhausting labor, they will go to the saloon and talk 
politics and discuss plans, and listen to barroom eloquence for 
half the night or more, and leave with a consciousness that they 
have done their duty ! Many of them, it must be said, are better 
models of citizenship than their fellow townsmen who live in 
finer homes and, from a pedestal of pride, look down upon them. 
In other words, the boss himself and the men who are associated 
with him, possess many admirable qualities and exhibit, together 
with regrettable vices, not a few manly virtues. Again, we say, 
if the majority of the citizens of St. Louis, Chicago, New York, 
or any other large city, do not possess sufficient civic morality 
and intelligence to break the reign of the corrupt boss, and put 
rascals out of office, then they do not deserve better government ! 

THE REAL HENCHMEN. 

There is still another point of similarity between the re- 
spectable classes and the perniciously active ward-workers. We 
accuse the boss and corn-crib politicians generally of sacrificing 
the public good to private gain. There can be no doubt what- 
ever of the truth of this accusation. It is supported by manifold 
proofs. It is sustained by Grand Jury indictments, by the testi- 
mony of witnesses and by the verdicts of the courts. But are we 
unaware that precisely the same accusations may with equal 
truth he brought against the most respectable people in the city, 
who are non-participants in politics ? 

What are they doing? They are, as they say, too busy to be 
actively engaged in politics and therefore they sacrifice the public 
good to private gain ! Again we see they are the real bench- 



198 POLITICAL THUGGERY. 

men of the boss, and in this particular at least, stand upon the 
same low level with him. Suppose they were to take some time 
for political duties. They would necessarily sacrifice, to some 
extent, their private interests. They would probably suffer a Httle 
in income from their business. Profits and dividends might 
shrink. A smaller volume of trade might be the .result ; but, if 
it is a question with an intelligent, upright, patriotic man whether 
he shall sacrifice private gain to public good, or public good to 
private gain, there ought not to be a moment's hesitation in an- 
swering as a patriot, for the men who wash their hands of public 
business are as really responsible for the corruption and misrule 
of our cities as are the men engaged in politics ''for revenue 
only." In the words of Dr. Strong : "The former neglect poli- 
tics for their private interests ; the latter manipulate politics for 
their private interests. Touching municipal affairs, they are 
alike selfish ; and it is the selfishness of the former^ which gives 
the selfishness of the latter its opportunity. Evidently the so- 
called 'good citizen' is the accomplice of the bad. We are afflicted 
with the bad citizenship of good men. We expect bad men to be 
bad citizens ; but when good men are bad citizens, public interests 
'go to the bad' with a rush !" 

Probably there is not a city in the United States where those 
who would prefer good government are not in a large majority; 
and yet they allow themselves to be ruled and plundered by a cor- 
rupt minority. In Europe, men of high rank and of great learn- 
ing deem it an honor to administer the affairs of their city, while 
we intrust authority to ignorant and selfish men, who give us the 
worst municipal government in Christendom, at four or five times 
the cost of good government in England. 

Years ago, when Kossuth visited America, he said : "If ship- 
wreck should ever befall your country, the rock upon which it 
will split will be your devotion to your private interests at the 
expense of your duty to the state." For more than a genera- 
tion since then our course has been laid directly toward that rock. 

The city boss rises out of conditions. He exercises all the 
power that a man of his abilities can exercise, and there is no 
monopoly on executive ability. We find it as often in the chil- 
dren of the poor as in the children of the rich. Genius is cradled 
in obscurity and learns early the songs of want. Fortune some- 



MISSOURI'S BATTLE WlTii THE BOODLERS. 100 

times passes by the rich and palatial homes and blesses with both 
hands the sons of men who are ignorant and poor. The boss is 
a man who, if he were born and reared in different surroundings, 
would doubtless become famous as a philanthropist and a re- 
former. His native powers would be differently trained and find 
a higher and nobler mode of expression. 

Instead of marshalling the forces of iniquity against the 
State, he might be found marshalling the forces of righteousness 
in defence of the State. His Napoleonic ability would then be 
not a menace to the government, but a superb means for the pro- 
tection and advancement of all the government's interests. In 
the immense patronage which he has to distribute, and the reve- 
nues which, flow through his hands, he finds an increment of 
his natural power. It is hard to set limits to the power of wealth, 
or the influence which will put a man in the way of wealth. 
Smiles says, '''Money represents a multitude of objects without 
value or without real utility, but it also represents something much 
more precious and that is independence. In this light it is of 
great moral importance." 

John G. Holland writes : ''Wherever the angels of promise 
and progress lead, money follows and does their bidding. It 
builds magnificent cities, and bridges rivers, and excavates canals 
and constructs railroads and levels mountains and equips navies 
and furnishes countless hosts with the energy of war." As a 
measure of value and a medium of exchange, money is indis- 
pensable ; and with it men can be hired for almost any conceivable 
task. They can be sent into the jungles or the tropics or into the 
frozen regions of the North. They can be hired to places of 
honor and trust ; and, if sufficient money is offered, there are 
multitudes who can be hired to commit deeds of infamy. The 
lowliest acts of charity can be wrought, if one has the money. 
The gratitude of the young child and the sorrowing widow and 
the helpless aged will be poured out without stint upon him who 
relieves their distress. There are many things that money can 
not do, but there is a wide sphere through which it moves with a 
sort of innate omnipotence, and in this sphere and with this means 
the boss is practically omnipotent. 



200 POLITICAL THUGGERY. 

We do not see, when we glance toward the future, any indi- 
cation of a loss of power for the boss and his colleagues. Selfish- 
ness is still dominant in the hearts of the children of men. So- 
ciety stratifies ; class draws apart from class ; a spirit of caste, as 
hateful as in pagan India, is engendered. The lower ranks, by 
foreign immigration and by the multiplication table, are being 
recruited more rapidly than the upper ranks, and unless there 
shall be a subsidence of rampant commercialism we may yet see 
the day in America when the infamies of the Tweed Ring in 
New York City, and similar eruptions in other municipalities dur- 
ing more recent times, will pale away into insignificance by the 
side of municipal and civic wrongs and frauds -and corruptions 
which will engulf our institutions. It is sometimes said that we 
want leadership, but whenever a daring leader appears he soon 
discovers that the people do not want leadership as much as he 
wants a following. The greatest commanders of history would 
be powerless with insubordination demoralizing and desertion dis- 
integrating their ranks. 



Chapter XIV. 
DECAY OF DEMOCRACY. 



America has lost her youth. Her hair is grozmng gray, her 
teeth are falling out; she is becoming senile. Voltaire said that 
France zuas rotten before she zvas ripe, but zvhat shall be said of 
a nation zvhose ideals haz^e perished almost in one generation? 
Yotir Emersons, Garrisons and Whittiers are all gone. Yon pro- 
duce nothing but rich men. In the years before and after the 
Civil War the soul-life of your people Hozvered and bore fruit. 
You are pitiful materialists nozv. — Count Tolstoi. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



DECAY OF DEMOCRACY. 



NOT AN ALARMIST THE PAPER GOVERNMENT POLICE AND IN- 
DIAN OUTRAGES LEGISLATION USURPED ENORMOUS SLUSH 

FUND TRAIN-ROBBERS RESPECTABLE LAWS NOT ENFORCED 

TAMPERING WITH COURTS REBATES AND CONCESSIONS — 

INDISPUTABLE. 



During the trial of one of the chief bribe givers in St. 
Louis an able and respectable attorney, Judge P — , said in 
his defense, — "Bribery is a conventional crime." It was 
declared repeatedly in the progress of the gubernatorial cam- 
paign of 1904, which seems at this writing to be reaching its 
climax, that bribery was not an issue, and these two state- 
ments indicate a feeling of indifference toward such offenses, 
a feeling quite prevalent among a certain class of people. 
Indeed, the disposition to extenuate or condone such offenses, 
to look upon them as regrettable but necessary incidents in 
the business and political world, may be said to characterize 
perhaps a majority. The real gravity of the offense, indeed the 
real nature of the offense and its appalling menace, do not seem 
to be apprehended by the people. 

Americans are patriotic. They are proud of the American 
democracy. They attach a great deal of value to democratic 
institutions, and feel that these institutions are theirs and their 
childrens' ; but the bit of history which is under review in this 
book, shows conclusively, as Prof. Giddings declared in a 
public address not long ago, that we are witnessing "the 
decay, perhaps not permanent, but nevertheless the decay of 
republican institutions." 

NOT AN ALARMIST. 

There is not a note or a strain of pessimism in any chapter 
of this book. The author is not writing as an alarmist. 
Neither is he softening any of the harsh facts, nor seeking to 



204 POLITICAL THUGGERY. 

pervert their stern logic in the interests of any party or of 
any candidate. 

It is well enough to rejoice in the freedom which has been 
purchased for us by the courage and sacrifice of our fathers. 
Americans have not yet grown mdifferent to the Fourth of 
July ; the Declaration of Independence is still a cherished docu- 
ment among us. If an enemy from without, or any enemy 
from within, were to attack the National Constitution or the 
Constitution of any State, he would be met by the angry 
protest of an aroused and indignant populace. He would be 
overwhelmed with an avalanche of denunciation and punished 
in as severe a fashion as the laws would permit. But the 
fact is, an enemy from within has actually usurped the func- 
tions of our democratic government. 

THE PAPER GOVERNMENT. 

We still have our Constitution, defining the offices of the 
President, the Vice-President, the lawmaking bodies, the judi- 
ciary, etc. The State still has its constitution, describing and 
defining the offices of Governor and the functions of the State 
legislators. These, however, are only the paper govern- 
ment. The de facto government can be seen only in its work- 
ing, and it is no exaggeration but a simple statement of alarm- 
ing fact that corrupt commercialism has usurped these func- 
tions to such an extent as to defeat the will of the people and 
actually take the government from them ! This is a general 
statement which will stand the closest analysis, and which is 
susceptible of proof. 

POLICE AND "INDIAN" OUTRAGES. 

In the first place, the police and "Indian" outrages which 
have become the merest commonplace in our great municipali- 
ties, have disfranchised the people. Many of the readers of 
this book were Confederate soldiers. They know what dis- 
franchisement means. They suffered it for long years. They 
resented it then. Will they not resent it still more when they 
reflect that they are disfranchised, not by the federal gov- 
ernment, nor by the will of their fellow citizens, but by the 
criminality of men who call themselves party workers and 
who use actual criminals in bringing about their disfranchise- 
ment? 



MISSOURI'S BATl'LE WITH THE BOODLERS. 205 

When election clerks permit padded registration, they 
are preparing to deprive citizens and taxpayers of their votes. 
When repeaters go from polling place to polling place early 
in the day and vote, nsing the names of respectable citizens 
and taxpayers, they are depriving them of their votes. When 
votes which have been cast by actual citizens are thrown out 
by corrupt judges and clerks of election, they are disfran- 
chised. When these same judges and clerks of election make 
fraudulent returns, they are disfranchised. When, in the 
28th ward of St. Louis, voters standing wearily in line 
patiently waiting their turn at the ballotbox were held there 
hour after hour, and "Indians" were run in ahead of them, 
they were disfranchised. When citizens were assaulted with 
brass knucks and driven away from the polling place under 
the very eyes and with the clear connivance of the police, they 
were disfranchised. 

Suppose a foreign power, like Spain or Russia, were to 
send an army into our cities today to do these very things, 
what would the American people do? Suppose an attempt 
were made to enact a law in the State legislature, or in the 
national congress, disfranchising respectable citizens and tax- 
payers, what would they do about it? But either of these 
attacks upon manhood suffrage would be decent and endurable 
compared with the attack just made by the army of thugs 
recruited in our city slums. 

Now, what is J:he logic of this simple fact? If the methods 
of criminals were restricted to the simple act of repeating, and 
if "Indians" voted half a dozen times only in each election, 
and did it quietly without attempting any other fraud, with- 
out attempting assault or intimidation, what would that mean? 
Would it not be equivalent to disfranchising a half dozen citi- 
zens, whose votes he has succeeded in neutralizing? 

Our revolutionary fathers declared, "Taxation without 
representation is tyranny," and they fought a long and bloody 
war for the right of representation. Can it be possible that 
their grandchildren have sunk so low that they have become 
indifferent to the right so dearly bought? Are they sitting 
supinely in their business offices and comfortable homes, 
lamenting the deprivation and saying they can do nothing? 
Are they willing to be disfranchised in such fashion, by such 
characters? 



206 POLITICAL THUGGERY. 

Manhood suffrage js fundamental to democracy. It is of 
the very essence of democracy. It is the cornerstone in the 
temple of liberty. It is the keystone in the arch. And yet 
manhood suffrage for multitudes is lost. Until this infamous 
wrong is righted we must admit that, so far as it prevails, 
democracy is not merely decaying, — it is dead ! 

LEGISLATION USURPED. 

But, suppose we go a step farther in this analysis. Sup- 
pose we take the criminal laws, or the laws governing the 
conduct of business or the administration of civic affairs; laws 
which have been enacted for the people by their sovereign 
representatives. The motto of the State of Missouri is, "The 
will of the people is the supreme law." The will of the people 
has uttered itself in the statutes which they have enacted. 
This also is vital to a democracy. The people must, either 
directly or through their representatives, enact the laws. If 
this function of legislation is usurped by any power whatso- 
ever other than that of the people, then, in this particular also, 
we see the decay of the democracy. 

But it is the variest commonplace of vState and city legis- 
lation that great corporations maintain successfully a lobby, 
for no other purpose than to secure the enactment of laws 
in their interests, and to defeat laws, no matter how just, which 
lay any burden upon them. It is needless to multiply illus- 
trations — one will suffice. 

In the confessions of a former Lieutenant-Governor of 
IMissouri we read that public opinion was driving a law 
through the Missouri Senate, which laid a just tax on public 
service corporations. The lobby, made up of men who were 
the chosen representatives of the people, but who had sold 
themselves out to commercial concerns, thereby betraying the 
people, were utterly unable to stop the law. So the king of 
lobbyists. Col. P — , took his accustomed place behind a cur- 
tain at the back of the Lieutenant-Governor's chair and wrote 
out amendment after amendment, which he passed to Senator 
F — . This Senator, a man of conspicuous ability, but abso- 
lutely unscrupulous, arose in his place and introduced the 
amendments, with the result that the bill passed, ''smothered 
to death." 



MISSOURI'S BATTLE WITH THE BOODLERS. 207 

Now, this is a case in point. The law which was in pro- 
cess of enactment was a just and righteous law. It was 
demanded by the people of the State. The lobby were power- 
less to stop its progress through the Senate ; since they could 
not stop it, they practically defeated it, to all intents and pur- 
poses, by piling amendments upon it. 

ENORMOUS SLUSH FUND. 

Another case in point is that of the organization of the 
St. Louis Transit Company. Mr. S — , a capitalist, a high- 
toned gentleman, a prominent church member, came to St. 
Louis and spent $250,000 in securing the enactment of a law 
by the city legislature, giving him and his associates practical 
control of the streets of the entire city. They did not own a 
foot of street railway iron, nor a wheel of rolling stock. They 
did not have an office in the city. Their whole stock in trade 
was this enormous slush fund. 

The people were not asking for any such franchise to be 
given to any such men. Far from it. The people were 
opposed to such an ordinance, to say nothing about the meth- 
ods by which it was secured. But the franchise was secured 
nevertheless, and sold to other parties for $1,250,000. This was 
a clean profit of $1,000,000 for the hightoned gentlemen who 
secured the franchise. Were they not political and commercial 
brigands? Was not theirs an act of political piracy? Is there 
not in it as deep moral turpitude as in the act of any pirate 
on the high seas that ever floated the black flag, or scuttled a 
ship ? 

TRAIN ROBBERS RESPECTABLE. 

A band of train robbers are admirable when compared 
with such a gang of free-booters. The train robber displays, 
at least, a high degree of physical courage — he takes actual 
risks. He puts his own life in jeopardy, and he robs the 
express company or the frightened passengers ; but the city 
or State or national raiders and wreckers not only rob the 
entire community but they assail their own government. 
They attack democracy at a vital point and overthrow it. 
They usurp to themselves the right of legislation ; or, rather 
by the corrupt use of money, they persuade the peoples' repre- 
sentatives to betray their trust, and instead of legislating for 
the people, legislate against them. 



208 POLITICAL THUGGERY. 

In both particulars of legislation then, that is, in defeat- 
ing the laws which the people demand, and in enacting laws 
which the people protest against, in both particulars, the 
briber and boodler undermines democratic government. And 
if the voters of the State or of the municipality permit them 
to ply their infamous trade without let or hindrance, then 
democracy decays and is ready to vanish away. 

LAWS NOT ENFORCED. 

But suppose that, in spite of the wealth and wickedness 
and weakness that are allied against the people, laws are 
enacted ; laws which the people want; laws which are just and 
equitable ; still there is something to do. The legislative 
department of the government is not worth very much without 
the executive. Laws passed must be enforced, and if in the 
enforcement of law these corrupt and designing men are able 
to circumvent the peoples' will, then once more democracy 
decays, the people are. defeated and the enemy of democracy 
triumphs. 

In the City of New York, in Minneapolis, in Chicago, in 
St. Louis — in every large city of late, there are laws upon 
the statute book, laws which the people placed there, laws 
which have back of them the sovereign majesty of' the 
people, which are not enforced. Even many of our criminal 
laws are rendered nugatory by the wilful inaction or corrup- 
tion of men who are chosen to execute them. In all large 
cities there has been, at one time or another, a system of organ- 
ized graft. Gamblers and other criminals have been per- 
mitted to ply their trades in consideration of a division of the 
spoils. Raids have been made by the municipal police upon 
one house of infamy and not upon another, until the raided 
house made good with the police officer and paid a regular 
assessment for immunity. 

The Missouri State laws demand that dramshops shall be 
closed on Sunday. An excise commissioner and a chief of 
police in St. Louis put their sagacious heads together and 
decide that the dramshops of the city shall be closed on Sun- 
day morning, and they issue an order accordingly, thus saying 
in effect that they may run with impunity the rest of the day. 
Who made them legislators? By what manner of sophistry 
do they reason around the obligation laid upon them by their 
solemn oath of office? 



MISSOURI'S BATTLE WITH THE BOODLERS. 200 

Again, we say that if the laws enacted by the people 
through their representatives are not enforced ; that is, if the 
executive department of our government fails and decays, then 
democracy itself fails ; and this failure is witnessed all over 
the broad land. It is no light or trifling thing. It is vital. 
The human will may be taken as the legislative department of 
a normal human being. The nerves and muscles we may say 
belong to the executive department. If a man should sud- 
denly discover that while he could think and plan and will, 
he had lost the power of executing his will, had lost control 
over his muscles, we can imagine the alarm he would experi- 
ence and the haste with which he would consult a physician. 
Should there not be a similar alarm in the body politic when 
its nerves and muscles fail, and should there not be a similar 
haste to consult a physician? 

TAMPERING WITH COURTS. 

Still another phase of the subject must receive at least a 
passing notice. The judicial branch of the government is as 
vital and necessary as either of the other departments, and we 
know that justice is defeated in the process of trials at law. 
This is done by the corrupt forces spiriting away witnesses 
and financing their exile, as was done in St. Louis with Mr. 
Murrell and Mr. Kratz ; and as long as our treaty with Mexico 
did not make bribery an extraditable ofifense this was an 
effectual perversion and defeat of justice. No other step was 
necessary. When, however, the treaty-making power took the 
matter up and secured the extradition of these exiles, some- 
thing else was necessary to defeat justice. 

And, so confident were the corruptionists that they were 
immune from prosecution, and that in spite of the return of 
these important witnesses they would still go uncondemned 
and unpunished, they welcomed Mr. Kratz with a champagne 
dinner! Now, what do they propose to do? There are various 
devices that may be resorted to. They may "pack" a jury; 
they may bribe the jurors; they may bribe the judges; they 
may retain the public prosecutor — in some cases — for the 
defense. 

They may invoke the endless law's delays by taking a 
change of venue ; by postponing the trial; by appealing from 
one court to another; and it may even be in some cases that 
their brazen defiance of justice grows out of a sweet conscious- 
ness that already, by the good work they and their fellow con- 

14 



210 POLITICAL THUGGERY. 

spirators have done in previous elections, they have packed 
the higher courts. We are not saying they have done this ; we 
are saying that it may be that this has been done ; and if so, 
this would explain their confidence. We know enough of their 
methods to be assured that they would not hesitate to step 
in and defeat justice at any of these points by any of these 
mehods. 

It is somewhat remarkable, as we have noted before in 
these chapters, that of nineteen convictions secured by the Cir- 
cuit Attorney of St. Louis, none have begun to serve their 
sentences. Can it be possible that the American democracy 
is decaying and disintegrating in its judicial department? Can 
it be possible that where wealth is directly or indirectly impli- 
cated, our criminal laws are a farce? If so, the title of this 
chapter is no misnomer; but here again we are beholding the 
decay of the democracy. 

REBATES AND CONCESSIONS. 

Once again it should be said that business agreements 
and combinations have been made, and are being made every 
day, in the way of rebates and other concessions to favored 
concerns, which defeat the will of the people as voiced in 
their laws. Unlawful rebates and other unlawful favors from 
great railroad corporations built up the Standard Oil Trust, 
which has been so splendidly unmasked by Henry D. Lloyd 
in "Wealth vs. Commonwealth," and by Miss Ida M. Tarbell 
in her series of articles in McClure's Magazine. Many of the 
methods of attack upon our democracy, which are alluded 
to in the foregoing, form a necessary part of the process -by 
which this great aggregation was built up to monopolize one 
of the resources of nature and exploit the entire world. 

It is unnecessary to go into further illustration of the man- 
ner in which shrewd business men conspire and combine to 
defeat wholesome laws. It is sometimes done by the whole- 
sale publication of lies ; by bribing a State officer ; by standing 
in with the great political parties during the conduct of a cam- 
paign, making heavy contributions for the success of the party, 
etc. It is an endless and wearisome round of corruption and 
outlawry, and yet it is the merest commonplace in certain lines 
of business and among business men of a certain character, or 
rather of a certain type of characterlessness. 

It may never have occurred to these gentlemen that they 
are guilty of an attack upon their government; that they are 



MISSOURI'S BATTLE WITH THE BOODLERS. 211 

practising commercial brigandage ; that they are traitors, and 
that their names should be a hiss and a by-word along with 
the name of Benedict Arnold. They think they are intelligent 
and patriotic. In an article entitled "Enemies of the Republic/' 
in McClure's Magazine for April, 1904, Mr. Lincoln Steffens 
tells of being seated one night at a banquet of politicians beside 
a man who had grown rich by unswerving loyalty to a corrupt 
ring ''which had done more permanent harm to his country 
than a E^uropean army could do in two years. He was not a 
politician, but a business man ; not a boodler, but the backer of 
boodlers, and his conversation was a defense of 'poor human 
nature,' till the orchestra struck up a patriotic air. That 
moved him deeply. 

'Tsn't it beautiful !" he exclaimed ; and when the boodlers 
joined in the chorus, he murmured, "Beautiful, beautiful," 
then leaned over and with tears in his eyes he said : 

"Ah, but the tune for me, the song I love, is 'My Country 
'tis of Thee.' " 

'T believe this man thinks he is patriotic. I believe H. C. 
Havemeyer thinks his success is success, not one kind of suc- 
cess, but success, not alone his, but public 'prosperity'. And 
William Ziegler, who is spending millions to plant the Amer- 
ican flag first at the North Pole, I am sure he regards himself 
as a peculiarly patriotic American — and he is. They all are, 
according to their light, honorable men and patriotic citizens. 
They simply do not know what patriotism is. They know 
what treason is in war ; it is going over to the enemy, like 
Benedict Arnold, and fighting in the open against your coun- 
try. In peace and in secret to seize, not forts but cities and 
States, and destroy, not buildings and men, but the funda- 
mental institutions of your country and the saving character 
of American manhood — that is not treason. That is politics, 
and politics is business, and business, you know, is business." 

INDISPUTABLE. 

Is it possible to contradict successfully the argument of 
this chapter? Is not every point sustained by current history 
in every State of the federal union? Is it not, therefore, dem- 
onstrated that American institutions are imperilled? That our 
rights and liberties are jeopardized? That the American 
democracy is being steadfastly undermined, and that the fair 
structure which has been reared through the years at so much 



212 POLITICAL THUGGERY. 

cost of blood and treasure is crumbling away before our very 
eyes? 

Are we so wedded to self-interest, are we so indifferent to 
national weal or woe, that we can rest content while* this 
process of decay and disintegration goes steadily on? There is 
not a community in the broad land which has not seen in its 
own midst, in its own State, illustrations of one or all of these 
several counts against corruption. We are telling the people 
what they already know. We are showing them our country's 
wounds, "poor, dumb mouths," and we bid them speak for 
us. And the feeling which has manifested itself throughout 
the nation, the' indignation which has found expression in St. 
Louis and other Missouri cities, and throughout the State, are 
proof positive that patriotism is not an outgrown virtue. 
Neither is it smothered- by the consuming greed of gain. 

There are not wanting ample evidences that the people at 
heart are sound, and that as the time approaches they are 
ready to deal with their country's foes as they deserve. At 
the ballot box, in the legislative assembly, from the bench 
where judges sit in all their dignity, and at the hands of 
officials who know the law and are fearless and faithful to 
enforce the law, the American democracy will yet mete out 
justice to its foes. Legislation ought to be enacted defining 
bribery and other forms of corruption as treason against the 
State, and punishing it with confiscation of goods and dis- 
franchisement. If public opinion places upon the murderer's 
brow the brand of Cain, by what mark should we distinguish 
the murderer of a nation? 

One of the richest gains of this whole war against corrup- 
tion is this elucidation of the subject of bribery; this discovery 
of its awful infamy and its fearful menace to the sovereign 
state. The Circuit Attorne}^ of St. Louis, in some of his first 
speeches in the gubernatorial campaign, defined bribery accord- 
ing to this conception, and the President of the United States 
embodied the same definition in his message to Congress : 

"Other problems concern the functions of government 
while the subject of the eradication of bribery goes to the 
very existence of government itself. Under our form of gov- 
ernment all authority is vested in the people, and by them 
delegated to those who represent the people in offivcial capacity. 

"If there be an offense greater than all others, it is that of 
him in whom such a sacred trust has been reposed, who sells 



MISSOURI'S BATTLE WITH THE BOODLERS. 213 

it for his own gain and enrichment. Other offenses violate 
the law, while bribery strikes at the foundation of all law. 
Bribery is more fatal to civic life than any other crime. It 
aims at the assassination of the commonwealth itself. It makes 
the passage of laws mere matters of bargain and sale, thwarts 
justice, enthrones iniquity, and makes lawful government 
impossible. If all official acts were for sale, we would have a 
government not of, and for, and by the people, but a govern- 
ment of, and for the few with wealth enough to purchase official 
favors.. 

"In constructing this government of which our great state 
is a part, our forefathers exercised a wisdom unsurpassed in 
the annals of mankind. They furnished a republic guaran- 
teeing rights to the citizens never obtained by any other 
people. The safety of the republic has been menaced, but wise 
men have steered the ship of state into safe harbors. Enemies 
threaten to-day, not from without, but from within. 

"The givers and takers of bribes are the greatest enemies 
we have to deal with to-day. Benedict Arnold attempted to 
sell his country for gold ; he was a traitor of war. The official 
who sells his vote is a traitor of peace, more dangerous than 
traitors of war. The Malian guide who betrayed the Greeks 
at Thermopylae did not by that act destroy his country, but 
a few hundred years later the gold of Philip of Macedon did 
the work the treason of war had failed to do. Greece fell 
because corruption had weakened her national life. Rome 
attained a pinnacle of greatness, and was undermined by the 
same insidious corruption that threatens us. Jugurtha, after 
he had corrupted the senate and bought the palace of Rome, 
declared that he could buy the entire city if he only had money 
enough. 

"Since the beginning of history, governments of all kinds 
have lived and died. Republics as great as ours have existed 
and gone down into oblivion through the spirit of corruption. 
Where wars, pestilence and all other calamities combined have 
destroyed one government, corruption has undermined a score. 
Yet some say that boodling can not be an issue, that we ought 
not to get alarmed over a few cases of bribery. When one's 
house is on fire, he is in no condition to argue about fine tapes- 
tries and ornaments ; he is more concerned in putting out the 
fire than anything else. So the people, when boodle breaks 



214 POLITICAL THUGGERY. 

out, as it has in Missouri, should make it their first and highest 
duty to put a stop to it." 

While, therefore, we have written out the humiliating and 
alarming story of our country's shame and peril, it is not in 
dull despair, but in exuberant hopefulness; and we believe our 
hopes are safely grounded in the.= personal integrity, in the 
alertness, sagacity and patriotism of an awakened and indig- 
nant citizenship. 

Mr. John L. Peak, of Kansas City, former minister to 
Switzerland, characterized the Missouri campaign as "A Fight 
for a Great Principle." He said : 

"I am unalterably opposed to revolutionary measures. But 
I recognize the fact that everywhere and always there are 
times when brave men are compelled to act with courage. We 
have long suffered, knowingly and consciously, in the depriva- 
tion of our rights. We have seen citizens turned away and 
driven from the polls by the strong and mailed hand of the 
police. We have seen judges of election dragged from their 
places and hauled through the streets jeered and hooted at by 
the mob. We have petitioned, oh, so meekly; we have been 
laughed at. 

''What can we do now but rise and resent it? We have 
suffered for ten years abuses that some men would not submit 
to once. Now it has become worse than ever before. Can 
we submit to this without condoning the offense? 

''Then, fellow citizens, let us repudiate this election. Let 
us say that when an arrned force overturns the rights of the 
people, let us say that we will not consent to such oppression. 
We will fight for our liberties and our rights ; we are to-day 
discussing the same great principles that fired the brain and 
heart of Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry. And if we 
submit to them we are not free men, but we are slaves of those 
who lead us around by the mailed hand of the policeman to 
do their bidding. We no longer petition. We no longer 
remonstrate. We file now a protest so loud and long that 
the angels in heaven and the devils in hell can hear it." 



Chapter XV. 
OUT OF THE NOOSE. 



May every soul that touches mine — 

Be it the slightest contact— get therefrom some good, 

Some little grace, one kindly thought, 

One aspiration yet unfelt, one hit of courage 

For the darkening sky, one gleam of faith 

To brave the thickening ills of life. 

One glimpse of brighter skies beyond the gathering mists. 

To make this life zvorth zvhile, and heaven a surer heritage. 

— Anon. 
Ha! what is this? Angels, Uriel, Anachiel, and ye other 
Five: Pentagon of Rejuvenescence; Pozver that destroyedst 
Original Sin: Earth, Heaven, and thou Outer Limbo, zvhich men 
name Hell! Does the Empire of Imposture zvaver? Burst there, 
in starry sheen, updarting. Light-rays from out of its dark founda- 
tions; as it rocks and heaves, not in travail-throes but in death- 
throes? Yea, Light-rays, piercing, clear, that salute the Heavens, 
— lo, they kindle it; their starry clearness becomes as red Hell-tire! 
Imposture is in flames. Imposture is burnt up: one red sea of 
Fire, zvild-hillozving, enzvraps the World; zvith its tire-tongue licks 
at the very stars. Thrones are hurled into it, and Dubois Miters, 
and Prebendal Stalls that drop fatness, and — ha! zvhat see I?, 
— all the Gigs of Creation; all, all! Woe is me! Never simce 
Pharaoh's Chariots, in the Red Sea of zvater, zvas there zvreck 
of Wheel-vehicles like this in the Sea of Fire. Desolate, as ashes, 
as gases, shall they zvander in the zvind. — Carlyle. 



CHAPTER XV. 



OUT OF THE NOOSE. 



LOGIC OF THE SITUATION A CONSCIENCE CAMPAIGN — MACHINE 

METHODS PULPIT AND PRESS AN AROUSED PEOPLE — 

""bribery IS treason'' A SYSTEM OF CORRUPTION — INDUS- 
TRIAL ANARCHY SPECIAL PRIVILEGE. 



Frcn the time of the poHce and Indian outrages at the 
primaries until this date, April ii, 1904, Mr. Folk carried 
every county in the State which voted, a total of twenty. His 
majorities in every case were large and overwhelming, and 
left no room for doubt as to the temper of the people. On 
April 9th, among other counties which held primaries, was the 
count}^ of Cole, in which is situated Jefferson City, the capital 
of the State. Here, if anywhere, the State Machine might 
expect a victory. Scores of State employees, residing in the 
city, would naturally be inclined to support their employers. 
But they did not. The county was carried for Mr. Folk, and 
this fact is doubly significant. It indicates the strength of 
the Circuit Attorney with the people, and it also served 
notice on the politician that all signs indicate a "new deal." 

LOGIC OF THE SITUATION. 

It was asked by certain citizens : "Why should Mr. Folk 
be so eager to reap his reward? He ought to be content with 
the applause given him in his successful prosecutions, and 
be willing to wait for any further reward politically." Such 
a question indicates a very superficial view of the situation. 
The only logical thing for Mr. Folk to do was to become a 
candidate for Governor of Missouri. The people demanded 
it. The cities demanded it. Only corn-crib politicians and 
men corrupt and mercenary opposed it. The Missouri condi- 
tions differ in important particulars from those of other States. 
One of these difi'erences consists in giving the Governor power 
at any time to direct prosecutions in any court in the State. 
In other ways the Governor has extraordinary powers. Mr. 
Folk said that for this reason he would like to be Governor 



218 POLITICAL THUGGERY. 

of Missouri. It was the next step in liis work as prosecutor 
of the boodlers. 

The higher courts had held adversely on all of the cases 
which had been brought before them, but fortunately even in 
a democracy the Supreme Court is not the Court of Last 
Resort. That must evermore be the Sovereign People ! So, 
it may be said that the case of the boodlers was appealed from 
the Supreme Court to the People of Missouri. If Mr. Folk 
had entered into the canvass for gubernatorial honors as a 
self-seeking politician, his campaign would have been lacking 
in dignity and would have ended disastrously. There was a 
popular demand for his candidacy, and in addition to this what 
we term the "logic of the situation" all but compelled it. His 
campaign must be considered as a part of the work in which 
ne had been all along engaged, in unearthing fraud and bring- 
mg rogues to justice. Mr. Folk would have proved himself 
unfitted for his high task and incapable of meeting the great 
responsibilities thrust upon him, if he had declined to become 
a candidate for Governor. 

A CONSCIENCE CAMPAIGN. 

Strong as is his personality it was only one factor in the 
campaign. His strength lay in the great issue which he incar- 
nated. The struggle of St. Louis and of the State of Missouri 
"o get out of the noose and end political thuggery had not 
continued long until it became clearly evident that a con- 
science campaign was on. Was it generally held in the State 
that ''briber)^ is a conventional crime?" Were the people 
sunk in a crass and sordid materialism? Or was it true that 
men of great wealth and equally great ability wielded a 
power so extraordinary that the common people were cowed? 
Neither of these was true. Nor was it true that the State Ma- 
chine, equipped and organized as it was, held supreme power. 
The prosecutions in St. Louis and in Jefiferson City had appealed 
to the consciences of the entire State — had awakened every com- 
munity. 

Sermons had been preached, editorials had appeared in 
religious papers, and editorials, striking a high ethical note, 
had appeared likewise in the great dailies. Men who had 
stood high among their fellow citizens suddenly awoke to find 
themselves despised or pitied for their contemptible meanness. 
There was no longer any question in regard to a division of 



MISSOURI'S BATTLE WITH THE BOODLERS. 219 

spoils — spoils were entirely lost sight of. Persons politically 
ambitious were not considered for a moment. To be sure, 
the old machine was also aroused. Some one has said : "A 
politician is a man who serves God just so far as not to offend 
the Devil." James Russell Lowell, in the Bigelow Papers, 
gives us a pen portrait of the politician : 

"I du believe in bein' this or that, 

As it may happen ; 

One way or t'other handiest is 

To ketch the people nappin'. 

It aint by princerpels nor men, 

My prudent course is steddied ; 

I scent which pays th' best, and then 

Go in for it bald-headed." 

MACHINE METHODS. 

Doubtless there are men, more or less actively engaged 
in politics, who carry with them their high moral ideals ana 
an inflexible moral purpose. But the typical politician, — his 
ways are 'like a serpent on a rock.' The successful leader 
does not hesitate to follow "gum-shoe" tactics. He adopts 
unmistakably the theory that politics is war, and that all is 
fair in war. He therefore feels perfectly free to practice duplic- 
ity, to play the spy, to deal in treachery, to hire Hessians, 
anything for victory ! These men raised the slogan, ''Any- 
thing to beat Folk !" Men of high standing who espoused the 
Circuit Attorney's cause, ministers of the gospel who dared 
assert their primal rights of citizenship, were assailed malici- 
ously and vindictively. The personality of every supporter of 
the Circuit Attorney became a target for the mud-slingers. 

The whole vulture brood was stirred up. They became 
suddenly solicitous for the good name of the church and her 
ministers ! Men who had not a vestige of conscience, nor an 
inch of standing room morally, who had not seen the inside 
of a church since they left their mother's apron strings, who 
knew much more about saloons, dance halls and all-night 
dives than they did about cathedrals, shed crocodile tears over 
the loss the church must suffer because the ministers were 
taking a part in politics ! They alternately raved and wept ; 
cursed and implored; threatened and beseeched ; just as they 
thought they coula De most effective in their opposition to 
th Circuit Attorney. 



220 POLITICAL THUGGERY. 

A horde of party dependents, some of whom chanced to 
be editors of httle papers, joined in. the chorus. They sought, 
in all the ingenious ways known only to their ilk, to becloud 
the issue. They falsified in every tashion conceivable. They 
distorted facts, they magnified defects. They manufactured 
facts ; they dreamed dreams, and saw visions of dire calamity. 
They shrieked, and fell into epileptic fits ! They imported a 
few moral lunatics, but the great commonwealth of Missouri 
paid no attention whatever to this bombastes furioso, except 
to indulge in an occasional pitying and contemptuous smile ! 

The incursion of this element into such a campaign is one 
of the always-to-be-expected factors and probably adds some- 
what to the gaiety of nations. A well-known and influential 
citizen remarked, and his remark may be taken as a fair sum- 
ming up of the merits of these men : "Every word uttered and 
every move made by the old machine has been a boomerang !" 
Wily old politicians seemed to lose their heads ; while on the 
other hand, the honest people made no mistakes and swept 
everything before them, as soon as the lines were clearly drawn 
and the issue definitely declared. It was found true again, 
*'Thrice' armed is he whose cause is just." 

It was not long until men who had fought side by side 
for political perquisites and who had shared with each other 
for long years the spoils of ofiice, when they saw that they 
were swept off their feet, began to suspect and accuse one 
another. Others of their number began to back water. They 
prepared for a change of base. They were still true to the old 
politician's motto : "Move earth and h— to beat 'em ; but if you 
can't beat 'em, jine 'em.'' This is one of the present perils of 
political reform. This is one of the invariable methods pur- 
sued by astute politicians, and the campaign of 1904 in Mis- 
souri is no exception. 

PULPIT AND PRESS. 

It is impossible to ascertain accurately the influence of the 
pulpit and the press in this great campaign for civic righteous- 
ness. It will be a long time in the State of Missouri before 
anyone raises the question again: "Is the power of the pulpit 
waning?" The manly, indignant protests which rang from the 
pulpits of all denominations, Protestant and Catholic alike, 
contributed vitally to the success of the movement. 



MISSOURI'S BATTLE WITH THE BOODLERS. 221 

Say what you will about modern preachers, the world 
knows that the majority of them are unselfish, earnest, upright 
men ; that they seek not their own but the world's good ; that 
they are uniformly disinterested, and when they speak on 
current moral issues, it is the voice of eternal righteousness 
uttering its indisputable edict. The true pulpit here still pos- 
sesses and wields an authority as unquestionable as that of 
Mount Sinai or Mount Calvary. There are lives of more than 
martyr heroism being lived out in our midst by priests and 
preachers, who make no pretensions to exceptional godliness ; 
who ask no earthly reward and who can be neither bribed nor 
intimidated. In this particular the power of the pulpit must 
ever be supreme. Its deliverances carry a hundredfold more 
weight than those which come from any other source in mod- 
ern society, and for this very reason the vile harpies who live 
on plunder and the promotion of vice and crime are espe- 
cially anxious to discredit the message by tainting or stigma- 
tizing the messenger. 

The press is vastly influentijal because of its circulation, 
but the modern daily paper is a commercial institution pure 
and simple, and it carries with it no more weight than would 
belong to the pulpit should it be commercialized. There may 
be exceptions to this rule, but exceptions only prove the rule. 
The press is the great agent of publicity, but it has suffered 
in public esteem because of 'fake' news ; because of the sus- 
picion of self interest which must always attach to that which 
is purely or chiefly commercial. Discriminating readers are 
quick to detect the false, and equally quick to recognize and 
applaud the true. Perhaps never before in the history of Mis- 
souri and of the West have the daily papers been heard from with 
as much satisfaction by the common people. 

One editorial followed another in papers Republican and 
Democratic alike, giving voice to the swelling indignation 
of highminded citizens. So that it is fair to say that in this 
particular battle pulpit and press, for the time being, became 
allies. In April McClure's Mr. Lincoln Steffens said, in the 
article already referred to : 

"And 'that man Folk,' rising out of the wrecked machinery 
of justice in Missouri, may lead his people to see that the 
corruption of their government is not merely corruption, but 
a revolutionary process, making for a new form of govern- 
ment ; and the people of Missouri, rising out of the wrecked 



222 POLITICAL THUGGERY. 

machinery of the government of Missouri, may teach their 
politicians a lesson in liberty and honor." 

AN AROUSED PEOPLE. 

This prediction has already found its partial fulfillment. 
People are saying, 'Tt is all over but the shouting." Nothing- 
short of a political disaster can defeat the Circuit Attorney 
for Governor. He will be the next Governor of Missouri and 
he will be unhampered by promises of entangling alliances. 
The next adniinistration will be all that honesty and integrity 
can make it. 

"BRIBERY IS TREASON!" 

Is the battle won? Are these throbbing issues settled 
once for all? Are the cities and the State out of the noose, or 
are the stranglers still at work ? To quote Mr. Steffens again : 

"But that is not enough. That will reach neither the 
source nor the head of the evil. Some power greater than 
Folk, greater than that of the people of Missouri, must rise 
to bring home to the captain of industry the truth : That busi- 
ness, important as it is, is not sacred ; that not everything that 
pays is right ; that, if bribery is treason, if the corrupt politician 
is a traitor, then the corrupting business man is an enemy 
of the republic. No matter how many bonds he may float in 
war, or how much he may give for charity and education, if he 
corrupt the sources of law and of justice, his business is not 
success, but treason and a people's failure." 

A SYSTEM OF CORRUPTION. 

In other words, the work of Prosecuting Attorney Folk 
uncovered a vast and intricate system of commercial and 
political corruption, and this system of corruption is inevita- 
ble under existing industrial conditions. The fact is, we are 
still only partially civilized. As Emerson once expressed it : 
We are still in the quadruped stage. When the American 
people established their democracy with the motto : ''Equal 
rights to all, special privileges to none," they thought they 
had solved the last problem of government and of industry. 
They thought they had finally erected, after all the failures 
of the centuries, the fair and goodly Temple of Justice ; they 
looked for an Utopian age, and this is one of the inevitable mis- 
takes of social and political reformers; they are too pessimistic 
concerning the present, and too optimistic concerning the 



MISSOURI'S BATTLE WITH THE BOODLERS. 223 

future. A democratic government is undeniably good, but 
democracy in government avails little so long as we have 
autocracy in industry. 

The committee of Congress which, in 1893, investigated 
the coal combinations, said: "It is a law of business for each 
proprietor to pursue his own interest. There is no hope for 
any of us, but the weakest must go first." 

Commenting upon this, Mr. Henry D. Lloyd says : 
"There is no other field of human associations in which 
any such rule of action is allowed. The man who should apply 
in his family or his citizenship this 'survival of the fittest' theory 
as it is practically professed and operated in business would 
be a monster, and would speedily be made extinct, as we do 
with monsters. To divide the supply of food between him- 
self and his children according to their relative powers of cal- 
culation, to follow his conception of his own self-interest in 
any matter which the self-interest of all has taken charge of, 
to deal as he thinks best for himself with foreigners with whom 
his country is at war, would be a short road to the peniten- 
tiary or the gallows. In trade men have not yet risen to the 
level of the family life of the animals. The true law of business 
is that all must pursue the interest of all. In the law, the 
highest product of civilization, this has long been a common- 
place. The safety of the people is the supreme law. We are 
in travail to bring industry up to this. Our century of the 
caprice of the individual as the law-giver of the common toil, 
to employ or disemploy, to start or stop, to open or close, to 
compete or combine, has been the disorder of the school while 
i:he master slept. The happiness, self-interest, or individuality 
of the whole is not more sacred than that of each, but it is 
greater. They are equal in quality, but in quantity they are 
greater. In the ultimate which the mathematician, the poet, 
the reformer, projects, the two will coincide." 

INDUSTRIAL ANARCHY. 

Our competitive state of industry rests upon the self- 
interest of the individual, and we seem to fancy that with a 
mob of individuals following each his own interest we shall 
conserve the interests of all. Almost any other business 
theory is stigmatized as anarchy or socialism, or some other 
fearful "ism," when the fact is that the present industrial sys- 



224 POLITICAL THUGGERY. 

tern is itself industrial anarchy; and the men and the journals 
who defend it are defenders of anarchy. They ought to learn 
to hold the red flag. Suppose we take the same principle and 
apply it to government, let every man follow self-interest. The 
result would be anarchy in politics, and the same result must 
follow the introduction of that principle into the affairs of 
human action. To quote again from the masterly statement 
of Mr. Lloyd: 

"We are very poor. The striking feature of our economic 
condition is our poverty, not our wealth. We make ourselves 
'rich' by appropriating the property of others by methods 
which lessen the total property of all. Spain took such riches 
from America and grew poor. Modern wealth more and more 
resembles the winnings of speculators in bread during famine 
— worse, for to make the money it makes the famine. What we 
call cheapness shows itself to be unnatural fortunes for a very 
few, monstrous luxury for them and proportionate deprivation 
for the people, judges debauched, trustees dishonored, Con- 
gress and state legislatures insulted and defied, when not 
seduced, multitudes of honest men ruined and driven to 
despair, the common carrier made a mere instrument for the 
creation of a new baronage, an example set to hundreds of 
would-be commercial Caesars to repeat this rapine in other 
industries and call it 'business,' a process set in operation all 
over the United States for the progressive extinction of the 
independence of laboring men, and all business men except 
the very rich, and their reduction to a state of vassalage to 
lords or squires in each department of trade and industry. All 
these — tears, ruin, dishonor and treason — are the unmarked 
additons to the 'price marked on the goods.' 

"Shall we buy cheap of Captain Kidd, and shut our ears 
to the agony that rustles in his silks? Shall we believe that 
Captain Kidd, who kills commerce by the act which enables 
him to sell at half-price, is a cheapener? Shall we preach 
and practice doctrines which make the Black Flag the emblem 
of success on the high seas of human interchange of service, 
and complain when we see mankind's argosies of hope and 
plenty shrink into private hoards of treasure, buried in selfish 
sands to be lost forever, even to cupidity? If this be cheap- 
ness, it comes by the grace of the seller, and that is the first 
shape of dearness, as security in society by the grace of the 
ruler is the first form of insecurity." 



MISSOURI'S BATTLE WITH THE BOODLERS. 225 

We do not deal out excoriations to individuals. The multi- 
millionaire is a commonplace. The billionaire is just arriving. 
They are themselves creatures of industrial conditions as 
much as the hobo and the pauper at the other extreme. The 
people are becoming alarmed. They see these vast fortunes 
rolling up like thunder clouds in the sky ; they knov^ full v^ell 
that they betoken disaster. Every such cloud is freighted with 

SPECIAL PRIVILEGE. 

destruction. These immense accumulations of v^ealth in the 
hands of a favored few are not the result of individual initiative 
and enterprise; they are invariably the result of special priv- 
ilege. The Standard Oil Trust monopolizes the wealth of 
nature, secures rebates from great railway corporations and with 
the stealth of the midnight assassin creeps upon its unsuspect- 
ing and helpless competitors and puts them out of its way. 
The coal barons succeed in cornering the supply of anthracite 
coal upon which millions of their fellow citizens depend. They 
can easily precipitate a strike, or, by fraudulent connivance 
with the railways, which are their other selves, limit the sup- 
ply because of a scarcity of rolling stock. They can produce 
at any time an artificial winter. The money we pay for anthra- 
cite coal is not a fair price for a merchantable commodity. It 
is a "ransom paid by the people for their lives." These are 
only two of the vast monopolies, the cruel Caesars of com- 
merce. 

Little groups of our fellow men have this unlimited power 
over us, touching wellnigh all the necessaries of life. It is 
like a weird alchemy by which they draw money from the 
pockets of the people in their coffers and the only question 
they need to ask is, "How much will the people stand?" There 
is just one reason why the atmosphere itself has not been 
monopolized and dealt out to the panting population of Amer- 
ica, measured by a metre on every windpipe, and that is 
because so far no inventive genius has been able to produce 
the necessary appliance. In other words, our kings of com- 
merce have not done it because they can't. They come very 
near to it in land monopoly, however, for he who owns the 
land may be said to own the air, and the light which falls 
upon it ! 



226 POLITICAL THUGGERY. 

Business and politics are inextricably tangled. If the 
people of Missouri and of America are to escape from the 
noose, they must take hold right vigorously of the great prin- 
ciples which underlie the new industry. As they have estab- 
lished a political democracy, they must set themselves stead- 
fastly to work to establish an industrial democracy. Public 
ownership of public utilities must be the keyword of the new 
abolition. The enfranchisement of wage slaves must be the 
high purpose. The just and equitable distribution of wealth 
must be the consummation of our efforts. Somewhere the 
Moses sleeps, perhaps still in his ark- of buUrushes, who will 
awake and grow and lead this nation out of its Egyptian dark- 
ness and bondage. It means much for the establishment of 
this new industry that at the election in Chicago, April, 1904, 
an overwhelming majority voted for municipal ownership of 
the street car lines. Let the individual do what he can do, 
and let the municipality, the State and the nation do what they 
can do. The "man called million," as Mazzani styled him, has 
arrived and must enter into his own. There is such a thing 
as individual wealth and there is such a thing as common 
wealth and to permit the latter to be transmuted into the for- 
mer is to perpetuate an indefensible cruelty upon a long-suf- 
fering people. 

There is no reason in the nature of things why the State 
should not own the rail highway as well as the road highv/ay, 
nor whv the government should carry our letters and not our 
telephone and telegraphic messages and express parcels. A 
natural monopoly is necessarily and inherently a State func- 
tion. But we do not have to wait for an industrial revolution. 
It is coming rapidly. We believe it will be fought out with 
bloodshed. And, too, such victories for civic righteousness 
as are won in the State of Missouri can be won all over the 
nation. The better classes of citizens must awake and assert 
their sovereign rights. They should immediately enact into 
law a new definition of bribery. They should define it as 
Circuit Attorney Folk has defined it when he says : "Benedict 
Arnold attempted to sell his country for gold. He was a 
traitor of war. The officer who sells his vote is a traitor of 
peace more dangerous than traitors of war." In other words, 
bribery is treason and ought to be punished by confiscation of 



MISSOURI'S BATI'LE WITH THE BOODLERS. 227 

goods and disfranchisement. The bribe-giver as well as the 
bribe-taker should speedily be made "a man without a country." 

"Aristotle's lost books of the Republics/' writes Mr. Lloyd, 
"told the story of two hundred and fifty attempts at free gov- 
ernment, and these were but some of the many that had to 
be melted down in the crucible of fate to teach Hamilton and 
Jefiferson what they knew. Perhaps we must be melted by the 
same fierce flames to be a light to the feet of those who come 
after us. For as true as that a house divided against itself can 
not stand, and that a nation half slave and half free cannot 
permanently endure, is it true that a people who are slaves to 
market-tyrants will surely come to be their slaves in all else, 
that all liberty begins to be lost when one liberty is lost, that 
a people half democratic and half plutocratic cannot perma- 
nently endure." Here is the key to the mystery. Here is the 
power which throttles. We understand it ; we know how it 
is entrenched ; we will overthrow it. 

"If our civilization is destroyed, as Macaulay predicted, 
it will not be by his barbarians from below. Our barbarians 
come from above. Our great money-makers have sprung m 
one generation into seats of power kings do not know. The 
forces and the wealth are new, and have been the opportunity 
of new men. Without restraints of culture, experience, the 
pride, or even the inherited caution of class or rank, these 
men, intoxicated, think they are the wave instead of the float, 
and that they have created the business which has created 
them. To them science is but a never-ending repertoire of 
investm.ents stored up by nature for the syndicates, gavern- 
ment but a fountain for franchises, the nations but customers 
in squads, and a million the unit of a new arithmetic of wealth 
written for them. They claim a power without control, exer- 
cised through forms which make it secret, anonymous, and per- 
petual. The possibilities of its gratification have been widen- 
ing before them without interruption since they began, and 
even at a thousand millions they will feel no satiation and 
will see no place to stop. They are gluttons of luxury and 
power, rough, unsocialized, believing that mankind must be 
kept terrorized. Powers of pity die out of them, because they 
work through agents and die in their agents, because what 
they do is not for themselves. 

"Of gods, friends, learnings, of the uncomprehended civil- 
ization they overrun, they ask but one question: How much? 



228 POLITICAL THUGGERY. 

What is a good time to sell? What is a good time to buy? 
The Church and the Capitol incarnating the sacrifices and 
triumphs of a procession of martyrs and patriots since the 
dawn of freedom, are good enough for a money-changer's shof) 
for them, and a market and shambles. Their heathen eyes 
see in the law and its consecrated officers nothing but an intel- 
ligence-office and hired men to help them burglarize the treas- 
ures accumulated for thousands of years at the altars of lib- 
erty and justice, that they may burn their marbles for the lime 
of commerce." 



'"> 1904 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




014 572 852 6 



